United Airlines Charges Soldier Returning From Afghanistan $200 For Overweight Bag

A United States soldier returning from Afghanistan after a 21-month deployment said United Airlines charged him $200 for an overweight bag laden with his Kevlar vest, helmets and boots. First Lieutenant John Rader said he was boarding a flight in El Paso, Texas, on Monday evening when he was made to pay the extra fee.

“There was no empathy to the situation,” he told KTBC7, a FOX affiliate in Austin, Texas, on Tuesday. “I’m not looking for sympathy, but some form of empathy in the situation. There was none of that. It was just cold. I had to either pay or leave the bag.”

United Airlines' policy allows active service members to check five bags free at up to 70 pounds each.

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“I was told point blank that I’d have to pay $200 for the overage or find another bag to siphon stuff off with,” Rader said. “Well, I didn’t have another bag so I was caught in a bin

Rader said he and another soldier both paid a fee for their overweight bags before they were allowed to board.

“In the past, airlines have been very flexible to soldiers whether it’s upgrading us in our seating arrangements, helping us with numerous bags we travel with often,” he said. “This is the first time and an isolated case in my history where it’s actually occurred. It became upsetting when all you want to do is get home and you have $200 charge thrown on top.”

Rader said he would no longer fly United Airlines following the experience.

“We offer members of our U.S. military a variety of benefits to thank them for their service,” United Airlines told International Business Times in a statement Thursday. “One of these benefits is allowing them to check five bags and increasing the weight limitations for these to 70 lbs. We are disappointed anytime a customer has an experience that doesn’t meet their expectations and our customer care team is reaching out to this customer to issue a refund for his oversized bag as a gesture of goodwill.”

The United Airlines official policy stated on its website said that active duty military personnel traveling on either official orders or just for pleasure were invited to check extra baggage free of charge.

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Many were quick to point out that Rader would be reimbursed through the Department of Defense’s Government Travel Charge Card, a voucher which allows for reimbursement of expenses while traveling. Despite the likely reimbursement and refund offered by United Airlines, Rader said he was more concerned about changing the company’s policy.

“Two hundred dollars can go a long way when you come back,” he told FOX 7. “Not a lot of people are compensated, so $200 comes out of pocket, you weren’t expecting it can change things so I just want to make sure soldiers are cared for going forward.”

United Airlines was coming off a public relations nightmare in which airport security forcibly dragged a man off a flight in April after the airline said it “overbooked” a flight and needed to make room for four employees. The company settled with the passenger for an undisclosed amount of money.