Mean Spirit- Airline charges $45 for carry-on

Deception is a CSR no-no. Spirit airlines markets itself as a bargain basement airline price leader, but it's only marketing; Spirit's fares are much more costly when customers inadvertently incur charges for basic services that are included by airlines with higher ticket costs. This "business strategy" was under scrutiny this week when Spirit Airlines crossed the ruthless line by announcing that it would charge $45 (higher than the cost of some of its fares) for carry-on baggage checked at the gate ($30 if paid in advance). Senators Landrieu and Schumer have already advanced legislation to permit passengers to carry bags on for free, and Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood criticized the move. More than anything- Spirit's lack of transparency betrays its customers; it's pricing dishonesty.

On of the central tenants of CSR is producing a valuable product, and a cheap flight is certainly valuable, another core CSR principle is transparency. Transparency is important not only to sustainability and environmental output, but to advertising and pricing. Customers should be able to understand a product's total cost without putting in work to figure it out. Pricing shouldn't involve surprises, and advertising should not lead a customer to believe they are getting a lower price than they do when they arrive to purchase- that's called a bait and switch, which is fraud, which is illegal.

Spirit treads a fine legal line with their price, which is designed solely to garner the top slots of airline ticket aggregators like Priceline, Kayak, and Orbitz and scoop up customers who click through without reading the fine print about charges. We're not here to tell Spirit how to run their business; they should charge $400 for carry-on baggage if they care to. But fares should clearly indicate the additional costs required for basic travel- the cost of a carry-on, and the cost to check baggage. The Senate bill creates a passenger right to minimal, basic necessities; however, the Senate bill would benefit constituents more if it required all airlines to advertise the cost of the fare, plus the cost of the carry-on, plus the cost of a checked suitcase, plus the taxes as one single figure. That would allow companies to run their businesses as meanly -and leanly- as they want, but also have to take responsibility for the costs forced onto customers.

The airline industry is suffering, but this blogger has no sympathy. Airlines have made a conscious decision to savage service to preserve profit margins while simultaneously preserving CEO and other c-level compensation, rewards programs and other costs that should certainly be cut before customer service. When airline profit is won at the cost of customers, who are suffering in legally meaningful ways: trapped on runways, denied restroom facilities, water and other necessities of life, it's a moral and business problem. Being an airline may be tough, but companies that "can't stand the heat should get out of the fire"; customers would benefit from no airline or from expensive fares more than an airline that is only operational because it deceptively tricks customers into pseudo-low fares. Price deception distorts market signals and makes it hard for customers to reward good business practice. The barest requirement of corporate socially responsibility is to operate honestly, with integrity. This standard is rarely met in the airline industry, exemplified by Spirit's flirtation with fraudulent pricing.