The baggage $25fee for a second checked bag resulted in a 60 percent reduction in second- checkedon bags, said Continental. CEO Larry Kellner, and a 35 percent reduction in the Latin market. Continental has yet to implement the first-checked-bag fee. Kellner pointed out it not only saved weight and fuel, but also handling and mishandling costs since mishandled bag numbers have gone down as well.

How Bad is Bad?
Just in case you didn’t know just how bad it was out there, Bloomberg reported that the 80 percent hike in fuel has resulted in a total grounding of 433 jets and reductions in force of 22,000. In addition, the industry will likely lose a record $13 billion this year, according to the Air Transport Association.

Myths & Realities of the Energy Debate
Federal energy policy continues to be dismal, writes Washington Post’s Steve Pearlstein. “So far, the responses have been colossally disappointing, with the president, the presidential candidates and party leaders in Congress all retreating back to the same hardened and hackneyed positions that have created a stalemate in energy policy for the past 20 years.”
Pearlstein said those who favor more oil and gas drilling, more refineries and a revival of nuclear power are right as are those who demand “we finally get serious about conservation, crack down on speculation and market manipulation, and recycle windfall profits into alternative energy sources.”
He indicated that the U.S. has no choice but to do it all – “gas drilling off the coast of Florida and wind farms off the coast of New England. Curbs on speculation and curbs on CO2 emissions. Tax hikes for oil companies and tax breaks for solar.”
“Energy independence a political slogan masquerading as energy policy,” he said, adding, “it's not achievable with existing technology, nor is it any more fundamental to our economic security than independence from food or steel imports. We live in a globalized economy – get over it.”
He also called environmentalist objections to further exploration silly and disingenuous when they say any finds would add only a small fraction to supply. “If that were the standard, no field would ever have been developed,” he said. “The environmentalists' hysteria on these issues has always been way out of proportion to the actual risks involved, suggesting that it may have more to do with symbolism and fundraising. Missing from the environmentalists' logic is any recognition of the tradeoffs involved, not only between the environment and the economy but among environmental goals.” The trade offs included risks to environmentally sensitive areas versus the risk of oil importation and the potential for oil spills.
Pearlstein favored raising taxes on oil companies. “Raising taxes on oil companies will reduce supply and raise prices,” he said, of the oft repeated oil industry objections. “This is true, in theory, holding all other factors constant. But in real life, all other factors are not constant. Take Exxon Mobil as an example. A doubling of oil prices over the past year had the effect of increasing its U.S. upstream earnings by 38 percent in the first quarter of 2008. If the government had captured just half of that increase through a windfall profits tax, its after-tax profits would still have risen by 19 percent. That's surely enough to stimulate investment, increase supply and drive prices lower than they were the year before. And the government would have collected an extra $800 million a year from Exxon Mobil to use for conservation or other energy-related incentives.