At the urging of US District Judge William G. Young, American Airlines agreed to discontinue charging a $2-per-bag fee in effect all over the United States. The fee was previously required whenever passengers requested curbside check-in service.

In addition, skycaps who work at Boston’s Logan International Airport will likely benefit from the airline’s simultaneous agreement to stop instructing passengers not to tip such workers. Logan skycaps claimed that ever since the baggage fee and a no-tipping policy were implemented in September 2005 and May 2008, respectively, they began losing significant income from gratuities, primarily because customers assumed they kept the baggage fees for themselves, despite clear signs that indicated otherwise.

In exchange for the removal of the fee and ban, skycaps who work at Logan will abandon a federal lawsuit accusing American, the largest airline in the world, of establishing the no-tipping policy in May in retaliation for the skycaps’ victory in another federal case last month. After deciding in favor of nine current and former skycaps, a Boston jury awarded the workers approximately $325,000 for tips lost after the curbside fee began in September 2005.

Good for the skycaps. Just because airlines are losing money doesn’t mean they should punish employees who receive the lowest incomes of all. With skycap salaries reportedly at just $5.15 an hour, you’d think airline executives would be grateful anyone would show up to work for that low amount. And $5.15 represents a September 2005 raise from the prior hourly wage of — I kid not — $2.63.

Here’s to the “little” victories that mean so much more.

Post from: The Boston Traveler