When will the onslaught of new regulations end?: Airlines may be taxed for bag fees

These Senators have no clue the trade-offs that airlines face to operate. Do people think that the airlines want to charge more for a carry-on? As the price of gas has gone up, the benefit from taxing extra weight from bags outweighs the costs of doing the tax. If some other airline can figure out a better pricing mechanism, they will get more customers. This airline proposal was to get people through security and boarding faster.

Six Democratic senators want to hit U.S. airlines with a tax if they charge passengers for their carry-on bags.

The senators said Wednesday that this would keep more airlines from following Spirit Airlines' lead. The small Florida airline said last week that starting Aug. 1 it will charge its customers as much as $45 to bring a bag aboard its aircraft and put it in an overhead bin.

Air travelers have been forced to pay fees for once-free amenities since 2008, for everything from checked bags to pillows to food. That has not stopped them from flying, but critics say charging for carryons is stepping over the line.

The senators -- Jeanne Shaheen of New Hampshire, Charles Schumer of New York, Ben Cardin of Maryland, Amy Klobuchar of Minnesota and Robert Menendez and Frank Lautenberg of New Jersey -- want a law that would designate carry-on baggage as a necessity for air travelers. . . .