I agree-Not a good idea
What plusses are there?
Fuel burn?-Probably not-At the end of the day the same amount of baggage will travel,(if not more-see revised allowances) but possibly with more of the baggage as cabin baggage than at present
Revenue?-Jury is out on that one-
Certainly there will be extra revenue from the bags & no one is in a position to say that the fares are £1 cheaper per sector so there is a gain to FlyBe
Handling charges?- very doubtful-I don't think FlyBe are self bag handling anywhere & you can't cut a baggage crew in half ,on the premise that most days there are only sufficient bags for less staff to handle.Certainly not from the rostering or union points of view so the handling charges will stay the same.
BUT
Baggage allowance is up to 25Kgs pp (30kgs for economy plus-but aren't these the businessmen who don't have hold bags??) so there is a potential loss of revenue from that area
What are the minuses?
Well , start with the baggage allowance again.Why 25kgs when the piece concept (& max bag wt) is 32kgs.What happens when the ONE bag turns up (pre notified) for check in & its 26kgs? Waived, for sure-27kgs? Waived, 28kgs?-Maybe.29kgs?-Gotcha!! That will be £4 per kilo!- No it wont-I'll put it in my cabin baggage! & off go the arguments at check in.At least if it went to 32kgs allowance there would be just the one statement.You are overweight & the loaders won't handle this piece.When you have repacked it to meet the maximum weight then any other items will attract excess baggage rate charges.(But then see para above)
Most check in staff are third party contractors who won't want this hassle, or growing queue lengths, leading to late closures.Waivers will increase & as has been pointed out previously, lead to in cabin problems for the cabin crew with attendant possible delays to departure, then knock on delays etc, etc
Conclusions
As it is a new system,a proportion of pax will ALWAYS be unfamiliar with it as they will not be FlyBe regulars & this will lead to repetitive problems at check in & to a lesser degree ,in the cabin.
FlyBe will derive revenue from the new system but this has to be offset against the potential loss of excess baggage charges & the loss of customer goodwill as the system is unique.Loss of goodwill will probably also extend to third party contractors & within some of FlyBe's own ranks.
Thumbs down on this one