Southwest Airlines will begin charging customers a fee to check bags. It's a significant change for the budget carrier, which built years of advertising campaigns around its policy of letting passengers check up to two bags for free.

American Airlines shouldn't have charged you $80 for your checked luggage. So much for "free" bags. While I'm on the subject, let me object to the term "free" anything, and especially luggage. American should have said that it included the cost of your luggage in the cost of your fare. (Technically, nothing is free when you're flying.)