Recent Influx of Baggage Fee Increases Across 4 Airlines
In the last few weeks there has been a slue of baggage fee increases. Traveling with a carry on has been in vogue for over a decade now but there are still times when checked luggage is needed. Those instances just got more expensive at many airlines. United, JetBlue, Air Canada and WestJet all increased their baggage fees.
Details
All of the airlines cited increase operating costs and increased competition for the change. They also played the we have not increased the fee in many years card.
United
- First checked bag fee increased 20% from $25 to $30
- Second checked bag fee increased from $35 to $40 (increased to $50 to and from Canada)
JetBlue
- First checked bag fee increased 20% from $25 to $30
- Second checked bag fee increased from $40 to $50
- Third checked bag fee increased from $100 to $150
Air Canada
- First checked bag fee increased 20% from $25 to $30
- Second checked bag fee increased from $40 to $50
WestJet
- First checked bag fee increased 20% from $25 to $30
- Second checked bag fee increased from $40 to $50
Conclusion
It is only a matter of time until Delta and American Airlines follows suit. You know airlines don’t like letting anyone get the best of them in the extra fee battle. Southwest is holding steadfast on their 2 bags fly free mantra. Although they did just recently increase the Early Bird fee, again…so they are not completely innocent.
I am in the always carry on camp so this doesn’t affect me much. Well until airlines start to charge for carry on luggage like the low cost carriers.
Hat Tip – Forbes
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You are right Jacob, but it is not only that, they cheat, and they cheat A LOT. I had to face things like rejections to pay food and hotel when a flight was cancelled, arguing that it was a storm at destination so they are not forced to pay expenses, when there was not any storm at all. Basically, a bunch of crooks.
The domestic airline industry is a runaway greed train: Continually reduce everything, give less of everything, and continue to keep raising any fee that they can get away with just so that the executives can get nice bonuses.
I am not against corporate profit, just that I believe there is a line that does not need to be crossed in the pursuit of more profit. I can completely understand raising fees when a company is facing financial difficulty, but not when they are already making massive profits.
Fair points Jacob
While no longer financially unstable, US airlines do not make huge profits — even though many travellers seem to magically believe their $79 fares lead to huge profit! By any standard, US airline profit margins are below the average of US corporations. For example, US banks and technology companies easily have 2x the profitability of US airlines. “Greed” may be a Bernie Sanders talking point, but it is no reality in the real US airline industry. The reason you probably feel otherwise in that “everything” seems to be an additional cost on an airline. But that’s only because consumers demand insanely low ticket prices. That’s why airlines like Spirit and Frontier exist — and have among the highest profit margins in the business!
It would be kind of refreshing if they were forced to package everything into one combined price so you could easily compare fares. But that is a pipe dream.
When will the Government do something about this ? When you pay for your ticket there is always a fee for fuel, and I guess that this includes the average weight of a passenger, plus one suitcase. But when you are travelling without a suitcase the Airline simply keeps this part of the fee, stealing it. They should give you an immediatecash back, or -at least- some kind of credit in miles or whatever.
I don’t see the Government stepping in on this anytime soon but I would like to see them enact something that guarantees compensation for delays and cancellations etc. Much like what Europe has in place.
Increased checked baggage fees impact everyone even if you already carry on. More competition for available overhead bins means longer boarding times and takeoff delays.
That is a great point Jason