Tag Archives for checked bag fees.
Airlines keep pointing to higher fuel costs when they raise bag fees, and that is rhetorically powerful because passengers understandably expect lower costs to mean lower prices. But that is not how airline pricing really works: fees are one tool carriers use to manage total revenue, and they have no reason to promise those fees will fall just because one input cost does.
United is raising checked bag fees to $50 for new tickets, another $10 increase that follows JetBlue’s latest move and will likely be copied across the industry. What makes this worse than a normal fare hike is that bag fees are largely exempt from the 7.5% federal excise tax on domestic tickets, so airlines have every incentive to move more of the price into fees instead of fares.
One passenger at LAX check-in was so determined to avoid an overweight bag fee that he stood there and ate a dozen bananas out of his own luggage to get the suitcase under the limit. The stunt is ridiculous, but it also captures something real about modern air travel: checked bag fees are now so aggressive — and overweight penalties so steep — that travelers will reshuffle, rewear, and apparently even binge-eat their way out of paying them.
JetBlue is once again the first U.S. airline to raise checked bag fees, but the bigger story is what that usually signals for everyone else: once one carrier moves, others often follow. But why airlines prefer checked bag fees over fare hikes is sneaky.
Airlines enforce the 50-pound limit with baggage scales that aren’t always perfectly calibrated—so some passengers have started “helping” the reading by quietly supporting one side of the suitcase with a foot while it’s being weighed. The number drops because part of the bag’s weight transfers off the scale, and influencers even promote it as a tip. It’s also fraud, and agents say they see (and cringe at) it all the time.
American Airlines is raising first checked bag fees on short haul international flights, including Mexico, Canada, the Caribbean, Central America and Guyana, to $40each way starting Monday.
In their rush to light their business model on fire, with checked bag fees, expiring flight credits, devalued frequent flyer programs and paid seats, Southwest Airlines has moved quickly to implement changes but hasn’t done the work to make those run smoothly or to maximize revenue.
The end of Southwest Airlines as a brand is Tuesday, May 28th. They begin charging for checked bags on all tickets sold beginning tomorrow. What’s amazing is that they refused to even tell customers what they’d be charging. They were too embarrassed – having built their entire reputation on being a customer-friendly airline, with ‘bags fly free’ as the centerpiece.
Southwest Airlines starts charging for checked bags on May 28th. That’s just days away. And they still won’t say how much checked bags are going to cost!
Surely the systems are already programmed (or are they?) They certainly know the pricing. They just won’t tell customers what to expect.
Southwest Airlines has killed its ‘differentiated product’ for the airline, and when they’re just like everyone else it becomes obvious that their product is at the bottom of the pack. Yet once most of the decisions have been made, maybe it actually makes sense to charge for checked bags?
Gary Leff is one of the foremost experts in the field of miles, points, and frequent business travel -- a topic he has covered since 2002.
Co-founder of frequent flyer community InsideFlyer.com, emcee of the Freddie Awards, and named one of the "World's Top Travel Experts" by Conde' Nast Traveler (2010-Present) Gary has been a guest on most major news media, profiled in several top print publications, and published broadly on the topic of consumer loyalty. More About Gary »
