Has anyone experienced Continental measuring bags and charging for oversize bags to/from Bonaire? We just flew Airtran out of Orlando and was charged $39.00 for an oversize bag. It was a duffle that when purchased it was not considered an oversized bag by measurements on the tag but because it bulges they took the largest measurement and came up with 2 inches oversized. It only weighed 42 lbs and we were allowed 50 lbs. To top it off this was the only checked bag that my husband and I had between the two of us. Needless to say, we are a little nervous about flying with all our gear to Bonaire.

we haven't experienced that yet. i thought the luggage surcharges were the airlines response to higher fuel costs. but now that the fuel costs are way down again i still don't see the airlines eliminating the surcharges. same thing with our groceries...they raised the prices months ago when diesel was almost $5/gallon...now it's back to about $2.50/gallon but the food prices are still up there.

The U.S. Federal income tax was to have been temporary too when it was first introduced...

Jake

Yup..when the airlines first imposed their new fees they were able to rationalize that it was absolutely necessary since oil was over $100 barrel.

Now it's at $40. The world is in recession. But, don't hold your breath for them to eliminate the luggage surcharge (you could injure yourself).
But here's a question, who do the politicians go after now since there are no windfall profits being made?
Answer..YOU.

The folks in NY will now be nickle & dimed to death with the new set of taxes being proposed by their governor. Yes I'm proud to announce that the food police are out in force wanting to protect us all.
If you want a regular can of soda (heaven forbid) it will now be taxed. However the gov says it's OK to drink sugar free soda which has no tax.
Just a small example of government gone wild.
Watch out McDonalds, Burger King AND KFC!!
Rant over..

and the telephone tax...that was imposed to pay for the spanish-american war at the turn of the twentieth century....it finally got repealed (i think) just within the past few years.

ok, let's get back on topic and try to help terri with her question. if two of you flew with one checked bag, you should be able to fly with dive gear with three bags. the size limit is 62 inches (L+W+H) and each of us has been able to fit all our dive gear into bags that size. i'm not sure of continental's policy on charging for the amount of luggage...i know others will have the answer. so you are probably going to fly with three bags (did you use those vacuum storage bags with your clothes? they work pretty well at reducing the size). if you keep them all under 50# and 62" each you should be ok. if they measured an extra two inches i'd sit on the thing for a few minutes to rearrange the size. Good Luck.

I just flew Continental with my dive gear in a duffle. I found that enforcement of the size requirement was not consistent. Some agents noticed and cared, and some didn't. Checked bag weighed 40 lbs or so. Inconsistency went for the carry-on too. I and others had to remove things from carry-on so it fit in the box at the gate, because they said that people were cramming big bags in the overhead bins and breaking the doors to the tune of $500 a pop. But on another plane, made no mention of it. You never know...