channa

Congress has threatened to legislate this. If bag is delayed = fee refund.

SamuelS

Sigh. Smart, robust and customer friendly airlines like Alaska offer a guarantee on checked bags, with refunds if their delayed (and even if you have to wait a long time for them to pop on the carousel).

As usual, the big legacy carriers seem hell bent on refusing to be proactive and once again are inviting government oversight and regulation on the matter (you'd think they'd have learned after the tarmac delay fiasco and subsequent legislation).

Bag fees are big business. United and American made over $1.3BN a piece last year in ancillary fees including checked baggage and buy-on-board.

HWGeeks

My friend had her bags delayed there was an area ont he form she filled out in the baggage claim area that she checked and they refunded her fee not sure if it was ecredit or cash wasn't with her but I remember her saying shes just happy she got a refund.

troyintn

There are several things they have threatened on, but they have not gotten very far with anything. The closest is taxing the bag fees, which I am surprised they have not since they do like money.

FlyingUnderTheRadar

I would ask for it back. If it was not refunded within 30 days I would file a complaint with my credit card company disputing the charge.

aubreyfromwheaton

Actually 2 questions, tried to search first...

First:

Under the eligibility section of the back of the certif it says :

$23 fee for 1 checked bag and $32 fee for second..... when bags are prepaid during online checkin...

So do you have to pay these fees or are they waived because you are using the card.

And if they are waived, then what's the point of mentioning the fees?

Second:

Can the primary ticket be in someone else's name, and the card holder be the companion as long as the card holder pays with the card? It says certif is transferable so sounds like should be ok.

Thanks

Mary Louise

Hello,

Looking on the Delta website is looks like the first bag is $23.00 if checking on line and $32.00 for a second bag for a total of $55.00. It probably is better to have one person in a group check one bag and someone else in the group check a bag so the total is only $46.00. Is this correct? Or is the $32.00 for bags 1 and 2.

Please advise.

Thank you

ML

fti

If you are all traveling together, then yes, each person checking one bag vs. someone paying for a second bag and another person checking no bag, is least expensive.

Mary Louise

Thank you for the confirmation.

Pinehurstgolfer

DL made $952M in baggage fees last year. AA made $581M.
See (http://www.ajc.com/business/delta-co...st-975751.html).
Not bad.

aviatorzz

Kind of off topic, but I was going through some old coupon receipts (read = pre-eticket era) and I was laughing at the price. 3/4 of the flights are the same price today if not cheaper than those of 15 years ago. Granted I fly a hell of a lot more today than I did 10-15 years ago, but looking at the 17 flights I have booked over the next few weeks made me chuckle that even though fuel is roughly 300% of what it was 10-15 years ago, its still the same price to fly and it a lot nicer cabin (especially in J). Thank you bag fees!

N830MH

Wow! Excellent job to DL!!! Keep it up for good work!!!

kwildnj

While I recognize the majority of people on FlyerTalk hold status with their respective airlines of choice, and are exempt from paying some, or all of these fees, I hardly see how being first in fee collections can be a good thing which deserves such cheer.

Frozentech

I guess we just like it when they screw the other guy and pass the savings on to us ?

stlBased

Stats for 2010 just posted by Bureau of Transportation Statistics.
Delta led in both categories by a wide margin.

Baggage fees

Reservation Cancellation and Change Fees

There are a few interesting patterns in the data.

Overall for the industry, baggage fees have exploded at a prodigious rate, nearly doubling every year over the past 3 yrs (at a 94% CAGR 2007-2010) to $3.4 bill. Reservation cancellation and change fees have grown, but not nearly as fast (36% CAGR 2007-2010) and seem to have flattened in 2010 (about $2.3 bill in total).

In terms of individual airline baggage fees, DL is 64% ahead of #2 AA in 2010 (and is of course a significantly larger airline). Delta has also grown meaningfully faster than the industry, up 115% CAGR over the time period, from $96 mill in 2007 to $952 mill in 2010.
For 2010 vs the 2009 combination of DL and NW, bag fees are up 24%.

For reserv xcl/chg fees, DL is 48% ahead #2 AA but again is a significantly larger airline. If Delta grew faster than the industry in bag fees, it's nothing compared to reserv xcl/chg fees, where DL's revenue has increased by a whopping 250% CAGR from 2007-2010, going from $16 mill to $700 mill !!
If you look at the progression over the years available (2007-2010), Delta didn't charge much in 2007/2008 but stepped up to #2 in 2009, just behind AA. Also, if you combine NW and DL in 2009, the total was $803.9 mill, so it's actually down about 13% y/y.

For comparison purposes, again according to the BTS website, DL carried 28% more pax than AA in 2010 and flew 24% more flights.

My post is neither a complaint nor rant - just the data that I found interesting. It's clear that the fees are here to stay. With the economic constraints the industry faces, I don't think there's any way this high margin biz goes away.