Why do luggage carts cost money to use in U.S. airports, but are provided free of charge in other places?

8/29/2018 5:49:43 AM

Luggage carts in the USA are provided by a company called Smarte Carte. While the exact contract details are confidential, the airport lets Smarte Carte operate in return for a portion of the rental fees. Sometimes the carts are free in some areas such as international arrivals but for-pay in other areas.

If you really don’t want to pay, hang out around the taxi stand at the arrivals area and a departing customer will often give you one. Same goes for parking lots.

In other more civilized countries, luggage carts are seen as a basic amenity such as toilets and air conditioning and provided free of charge.

The economics of airports:

As @user71659 notes, this may be due to the economics of airports in the USA versus other countries. In the USA, passenger facility charges are capped to $4.50 per passenger, so the airports themselves may provide few amenities and may be poorly staffed. Other countries allow for much higher landing fees which allow for more amenities to be “free”.

For example, Tokyo Narita airport provides free carts and their passenger fee is ¥2630 per person, which is about US$25. Narita explicitly notes that its passenger fee is “used to cover the cost of maintaining and managing the lobbies…[and] to provide baggage carts….” (per comment from @user71659).

In contrast, San Francisco (SFO) charges for its Smarte Cartes in the domestic terminals and its passenger fee is the max US$4.50.

Credit:stackoverflow.com‘

About me

Hello,My name is Aparna Patel,I’m a Travel Blogger and Photographer who travel the world full-time with my hubby.I like to share my travel experience.

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