Welcome to the official start of summer. And to kick it off in traditional fashion, it’s getting downright crazy at airports.

This time, it’s all about the new pay-for-checked baggage luggage rules and charges.

Before I get into the logic and the morality of the new fees, there are some practical challenges. The real key is what defines acceptable carry-on bags anymore? (As I say in my book, there are only two types of luggage, carry-on, and LOST).

But for those checking bags now, or who feel they are forced to, the economic impact is hitting hard. For a family of four, this can mean a de facto airfare increase of $320 roundtrip. That’s significant.

Many senior citizens feel they are being discriminated against because they physically can’t lug carry-on bags and have always checked them in. Folks with a physical disability also feel slighted by the new luggage rule.

What’s worse, charging for bags is no guarantee by the airlines that your luggage will actually arrive on the same flight you’re on! (Think about this: Up until last week, airlines used to lose my bags … for free. Now they want to charge me for the same treatment?)

And I know what you’re thinking. If they charge me to check bags and then lose or misplace them, do I get that checked bag fee back? You know the answer: no.

So what are people doing? For starters, as long as their bags have wheels, they’re trying to somehow get these bags through security as carry-on bags. (Remember, just because your luggage has wheels doesn’t make it portable … but TRANSportable). Some airlines are actually stationing luggage “police” in front of security checkpoints to challenge—and then deny—passengers if they think their bags are too big.

There are other inevitable results of the new rules. One is longer lines at ticket counters as arguments break out between passengers and agents over what is and isn’t carry-on.

And the second result: Many folks will do anything they can to only check one bag and not get hit with the $25 second bag fee—which means that even if their carry on fits size requirements, it might be so heavy that passengers will need help lifting the bags into overhead compartments. It won’t be long before the airlines install scales at departure gates!

The airlines could have avoided this public relations fiasco by simply raising fares. But as much as each airline is desperate to generate revenue, they are all reluctant to raise the fares for one reason: If just one competing carrier doesn’t match the fare increase, the new higher fares get shot down. This way, airlines keep the fares at an artificially lower level, and then can charge us for things we can’t really control—sodas, baggage, weight, change fees, et al. And they engender unfathomable ill will in the process.

How good are Greyhound and Amtrak looking to you now?

When you factor in time, stress, frustration, and abuse, then match it to cost, it’s a no-brainer. For trips under 400 miles, train and bus routes/fares are now sensible, economically viable alternatives.

Something to think about as things get worse.

By Peter Greenberg for Peter Greenberg.com.

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The title of this Today segment says it all: Can’t Afford to Fly? Take a Train.