Baggage fees when going off to war. (Please read.)

[GRColin]

http://www.cnn.com/2008/TRAVEL/08/13/tr ... index.html

I asked you to please read because in this case I'm curious what most of you think. Answer honestly, please.

So it seems U.S military personnel are having to pay baggage fees as they ship off to war in Iraq or Afghanistan...Or wherever they may be flying to.

Read the article and answer me this:

Do you think it's fair to the troops, they're already getting a big enough break by only having to pay for a third bag?

Do you think it's unfair? These men and women are fighting and dying and as they say goodbye to their families they're also having to say goodbye to a hundred dollars they may or may not get back?

Do you think it's unfair in the sense they're getting off light and they should pay for as many bags and as much money as civilians have to?

 

[VegasGuru]

You get reimbursed. They say it isn't guarnateed but it damn near is. Its not fair for airlines to have to suffer losses for this war. In the end the govt. picks up the tab anyways so I don't see what the big deal is.

You can also get an advance for your travel pay.

 

[Lentium]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dczBvAPvnC0

 

[GRColin]

Reimbursed yeah but like they said, who is going to be thinking about that when a war is going on, and if they get reimbursed why have it at all in the first place? The airlines got by just fine prior to them putting this into effect, I'm sure they can now.

I'd rather see an airline out some money than troops that are under paid as it is.

 

[VegasGuru]

Like I said, if its something that you really don't want to be "thinking about" on your way to war, get an advance.

The airlines might have gotten by fine prior but how do we know? You think they really would want bad press like this if it wasn't for a reason? With the increase in fuel costs, I wouldn't doubt they have legitimate reasons for these fees.

 

[GRColin]

Getting an advance doesn't change the fact that many soldiers may not have time to fill out forms for a hundred dollars. And even then, it can take months. I was being compensated 130 dollars once, and it took from December until about June for me to receive my money. Granted, this wasn't an airline but it was still dealing with reimbursement. It's safe to say that the possibility of a large delay is there. I guess we'll just have to agree to disagree on this one heh.

 

[VegasGuru]

I did mine and it took me 4 days.

Bottom line is, I blame this on the DOD. Not the airlines, not the service, and definetely not the members.

 

[GRColin]

4 days? That really isn't too bad at all.

Wait, you serve?

And I can definitely see where you're coming from. I mean you at least think it's fair and you aren't sitting there saying they should pay just as much as the civilians. And I am a little on the fence with it. On one hand, they do get reimbursed, on the other it;s a hundred dollars or however much they need to fork out before going off to war. I mainly took the latter view with it to play Devil's advocate to whomever the first responder was, as I myself am kind of unsure.

 

[VegasGuru]

Yeah. I was in the Air Force for 4 years.

 

[GRColin]

Oh nice. What MOS? (I'll try not to hijack my own topic.)

 

[VegasGuru]

I worked on ejection systems on the fighters here at Nellis.

A-10s, F-15s, F-16s, and F-22s

 

[MagnusNordir]

While I've nothing against murdering muslims and getting them to murder each other in general, I've no respect for anyone who signs up in the army, knowing well they're getting shipped of to Iraq/Afghanistan, and then bitches about irrelevant shit like this.

 

[GRColin]

While I've nothing against murdering muslims and getting them to murder each other in general, I've no respect for anyone who signs up in the army, knowing well they're getting shipped of to Iraq/Afghanistan, and then bitches about irrelevant s*** like this.

.....

Your idiocy knows no bounds.

And what troops have you seen bitching?

 

[VegasGuru]

While I've nothing against murdering muslims and getting them to murder each other in general, I've no respect for anyone who signs up in the army, knowing well they're getting shipped of to Iraq/Afghanistan, and then bitches about irrelevant s*** like this.

Because the respect of an overweight little shit that can't coherently put a thought together matters so much.

 

[GRColin]

Vegas, despite us disagreeing more than once since you're joining...I love you. In a totally hetero kind of way of course.

 

[VegasGuru]

*man hug* ( In a totally non boner inducing way )

 

[Rakon]

It seems to me like its a slap in the face

 

[JCD]

While I've nothing against murdering muslims and getting them to murder each other in general, I've no respect for anyone who signs up in the army, knowing well they're getting shipped of to Iraq/Afghanistan, and then bitches about irrelevant s*** like this.

I think my lord and master Joe Pesci put you upon this earth to test me. It's working so far.

Anyhoo on topic, I honestly can't see how soldiers being made to pay for their baggage is fair. It's not like they're jetting off for a holiday in an exclusive Caribbean resort or anything, they're going to fight in a bloody war.

 

[VegasGuru]

Again, its like I said before, is it fair for the airlines to acquire more costs? I agree that the service members shouldn't pay to travel but the DOD should. If you guys knew how much I know about military spending you would agree as well.

I'll give you this nugget. The DOD allows for the spending of almost 30 bucks for. . . A s i n g l e s c r e w on the F-22. You would think they would properly allott travel pay to be available without hurdles.

Alright, here's another. If you were on the market for a device which recieves an input of airspeed and altitude from another device (sold seperately) how much would you pay for this device to simply output 4 different signals based on the 2 inputs? These go on every ejection seat in service.

So think of thousands across the US fleet. 500 bucks? 1,000? 5,000? Remember, these devices only recieve a signal and output another...that's it.

We pay 10 thousand dollars each. Oh yeah, they get replaced every 7 years.

So back on topic, no, the airlines should not have to pay out of pocket for shit the DOD is in existence for.

 

[MikeyVassallo]

If they are using Civilian transport they need to pay.
If not, the Government needs to foot the bill.