Flying out of Charlotte is getting a little more expensive for many.
The largest carrier at Charlotte Douglas, American Airlines, this week announced it’s raising the cost of checking a bag. It will now cost $35 to do so in advance and $40 at the airport. Those are both up from $30 previously. American also said starting May 1, passengers will only get frequent flier miles on flights booked directly with the airline or preferred travel agencies.
We turn now to Cristina Bolling of the Charlotte Ledger Business Newsletter for our segment BizWorthy.
Marshall Terry: So why is American doing this now? I thought air travel was booming and ticket prices certainly have not come down. Do they really need to raise prices?
Cristina Bolling: I'm sure that is something that lots of people are curious about. What American executives are saying is that they're dealing with rising fuel and labor costs, and so this is one way that they can manage that. They're saying that the more luggage they put on aircraft, the heavier the airplanes are and the more fuel they burn. They say that they last raised their checked bag fees in 2018, so it's been a little while. What's interesting is I saw some airline data recently that showed that American brought in $1.4 billion in bag fees in 2022.
Terry: And to be clear, some passengers still won’t have to pay for that first checked bag, right?
Bolling: That's right, Marshall. So you'll still be able to check a bag for free if you have elite status with American, if you carry one of their credit cards or also if you buy a premium seat. So if you pay more for your seat, you'll get that free checked bag then.
Terry: So for those who aren’t elite I guess we’re going to be scrambling to jam even more into overhead bins, right? And that’s always a struggle.
Bolling: It does seem like more people might be packing into smaller bags that fit in the overhead compartments. You know, if they're being forced to to pay more, they might rethink those extra, you know, pair of shoes or that extra jacket and opt for something they can throw in the overhead. So yeah, you might wanna get ready for a little more of a scramble.
Terry: Over to Dilworth now, where you report there’s land swapping going on involving Atrium Health. What parcels and what are the plans?
Bolling: Yeah. So the land swap involves entities affiliated with Atrium Health and a local real-estate investment company called Faison. Faison is giving up a property on Morehead Street, near the Dilworth Neighborhood Grill, to the Atrium Health Foundation and is relocating to a prime spot next to the old Fuel Pizza building on East Boulevard, over near South Boulevard. Faison CEO Chris Fetter told us that Faison and the Atrium Health Foundation basically swapped land.
Now, companies that are affiliated with Atrium already own three other side-by-side parcels facing Morehead Street, as well as the land behind them toward Baxter Street, where that medical school building and the innovation district called the Pearl is being built. So certainly, you know, Atrium is positioning itself to have more of its entities close together and you know, more of a land parcel in one big block.
Terry: Finally, many people might recognize the name Michael A. DeMayo from his TV ads. A state appeals court has thrown out a complaint against the prominent Charlotte attorney. What was the complaint and what did the court say?
Bolling: Yeah, so a decision was filed this week showing that a three-judge North Carolina appeals court panel threw out a disciplinary complaint against Michael DeMayo. They said basically that there wasn't enough evidence that he knowingly made false statements to a former colleague about a conversation with clients.
The case springs from comments DeMayo made in 2021 in an e-mail exchange with a fellow lawyer who had recently left the mayor's firm and had taken a client with him. Apparently, in response to the lawyer's accusation that DeMayo had told a client about the lawyer's personal life, DeMayo said he was not aware of the lawyer’s personal struggles and he wouldn't have discussed them with the client. The lawyer filed a complaint with the State Bar and the Bar's Disciplinary Hearing Commission sanctioned DeMayo with the one-year suspension of his law license.
That penalty was delayed as DeMayo appealed and finally, the court said that the Bar's findings that he knowingly misled the lawyer were speculation built on inference, from inference from inference, so the complaint was thrown out.
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