As you have heard in many circles, Spirit Airlines announced they will charge for carry on luggage starting August 1st while American, Delta, JetBlue, United and US Airways have all announced they will NOT charge for carry-on bags.

Okay, let’s think about this one. Actually, this makes some sense. The airlines live by on-time schedules and outside of weather and mechanical issues, what typically causes delays are slower boarding times with passengers trying to stuff everything into the overheads. So, if the reverse logic is used, travelers should pay for carry-on luggage and not be charged for checked-in luggage hopefully enabling the flight to depart from the gate quicker.

Actually, maybe what really happened is Spirit was the sacrificial lamb and picked the shortest straw to charge such a controversial fee. Let’s guess which airline comes out (or chooses the next shortest straw) next with a different fee. What do you think?