JetBlue is the first U.S. airline to hike checked bag fees again, citing high fuel prices.
- 1st bag: $39 off-peak if paid more than 24 hours ahead, $49 off-peak within 24 hours of travel, and $49 peak if prepaid, $59 peak inside 24 hours. They want you to pay early, and possibly overpay for too many bags.
- 2nd bag: $59 / $69 off-peak and $69 / $79 peak, depending on when you pay.
The first bag went up $4 on off-peak days and $9 on peak days. Second bag went up $9.
This applies only to new or reissued tickets. Bag fees at time of ticketing apply. An already-purchased, unchanged reservation keeps the old bag fees.
Blue Plus fares include one checked bag, Mint includes two, and of course elite status and co-brand cardholders still keep their bag benefits.
No one else has yet matched. JetBlue is often the first-mover on bag fees. They were first to $30 in 2018. In 2024 they led with peak/off-peak pricing.
It’s still odd to frame higher bag fees as being driven by fuel costs. It’s just another cost airlines pay, like labor and aircraft rent and landing fees.
They explicitly framed the change as a way to manage rising costs while keeping base fares competitive. That’s dumb: we’re increasing prices but doing the right thing by breaking out part of the price and telling you it’s the same (even though airfares have so far been rising and are expected to continue to do so… driven by higher oil prices and cutting of schedules).
Of couse, moving more of the total fare into fees saves the airline taxes. The 7.5% excise tax on domestic airfares does not apply to fees. So this is tax arbitrage as well as an attempted fare hike that they’re telling you isn’t one.
If they raise it any higher, there’s no point of paying for a bag. Just buy new clothes when you get there.
Jetblue first bag fee is now $39 to $59 each way. Comparing to Delta who is only $35, no matter what season or when you pay. Crazy.
@Jason, I find it hard to find clothes that fit me. So I would still rather check a bag.
Usually, I book a high enough fare class to include a checked bag, rather than paying for it a la carte. But perhaps that does not exist on JetBlue (I’ve never flown with them before).
JetBlue is headed toward bankruptcy and a carve out.
as soon as this war began, it became apparent that airlines could raise fares and cut relatively small amounts of capacity through mid-summer.
What happens after Aug 1 will be telling as summer travel demand starts to fall off.
B6 is one of the most vulnerable carriers and I suspect Lady is correct that they will have to make a major change in their future by the fall.
Most people when booking flights don’t consider bag fees. That comes afterwards when the realize they are going to have to pay out of the butt to take along their steam trunk to Disney. Also, bag fees are near pure profit for airlines. They’d make more money off an increase in bag fees of $9 over a fare increase of $9.