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There is one cost cutting idea that has been proposed many times, but the airlines just can’t make it happen. A few companies have been created for it, but just didn’t have the backing to survive.

The idea is that passenger transport and luggage cargo have very different shipping needs, and combining the two, as is done today, is both expensive and inefficient. So why not put them on two different aircraft? That way, cargo would only fly when the plane was full, and passenger transport would be a lot cheaper.

The way it would work in practice is for luggage to be initially shipped out before the passenger leaves. To start with, a van shows up at their home or destination before the trip, takes the luggage to the departure airport, where it is shipped. Then, at the destination airport, it is picked up by another van and taken to the passenger’s eventual destination.

Then the passenger flies light on a plane with just carry on luggage, using a lot less fuel than if it was also carrying cargo. Or if it carried cargo as well, it would be higher valued cargo, not low value luggage.

So the passenger airline either saves money or makes more money. Passengers don’t have to wrestle with luggage, pay less for passage, and transportation security is also much better.

They do pay a separate fee for their luggage, though. But it is a low cargo rate, not expensive luggage rate.

The idea is that passenger transport and luggage cargo have very different shipping needs, and combining the two, as is done today, is both expensive and inefficient.

Passenger transport and luggage may have different shipping needs in some respects, but in one key respect their shipping needs are identical: The passengers and the luggage need to be transported from the same origin to the same destination. I believe this important consideration overrides all other complications related to the different shipping needs of passengers and luggage.

It's also worth noting that airlines run a lucrative side business in moving air cargo completely unrelated to passengers inside the cargo areas of passenger aircraft. This is why, with the exception of overnight parcel/package carriers like UPS and FedEx, dedicated air cargo aircraft are slowly disappearing from the industry.