Last week, the final nail came down in the great unbundling of air travel as the last holdout against no bag fees, Southwest Airlines, announced the end of their “Bags Fly Free” policy. The policy, which was a core part of the company’s marketing strategy around their neologism “Transfarency”, was also a big help to American Hockey League teams.
The AHL is not a charter flight league. Anytime you have to get on a plane in the A, players, coaches and staff are going through TSA and waiting in the boarding area like the rest of us*. For some teams on a geographical island, like Texas and Manitoba, every single road trip involves an airplane.