It’s Official. Checked Bag Fees Are Going Up
Taylor Rains February 25, 2020
United Airlines just upped its checked baggage fees, following JetBlue who increased its baggage rate in January. Starting next month, all United passengers on domestic flights and short-haul flights to the Caribbean and Latin America will be charged $35 for the first checked bag and $45 for the second (each way), a $5 markup from their current rates.
According to USA Today, the increased checked baggage fees only apply after a passenger has checked in, so if you prepay online before that, then the $30 and $40 rates still apply. The new prices will take effect on March 6th, but any person who booked a flight before February 21st and is traveling past the effective date will be exempt.
This is not the first time JetBlue has initiated a bag fee increase. In August 2018, the carrier upped its fee from $25 to $30, which was quickly matched by all three legacies, so Delta and American are expected to follow suit this time as well. Although JetBlue and the majors continue to increase their baggage prices, Southwest still remains the only U.S. carrier offering two checked bags for free.
CEB: Talk about rambling...and it still comes back to blaming customers. Nice contribution.
Wsah, wah, wah. Always plenty of whining about greedy airlines and unjustified fees, and all. What about the greedy pax who want the cheapest fares, no fees and first class for their pets at no charge? Sorry, but I get sorely irritated by all the whining about corporate greed when the greed is actually far more prevalent on the customer side of the ledger. I sell no products and do not work in a corporate environment, but does anyone really think that everything in life is or should be free? Hogwash. If you think the legacy airlines re the problem, then fly Ryan Air or Frontier and add up all the fees for the services that do happen to be included with the legacy airlines. 90% + of the time the LCC fare with all the fees ends up the same or more than the legacy fares. So put the responsibility where it belongs, squarely on the customer's shoulders. The airlines are simply responding to the market demands and expectations.
It's because of the tax structure. Fees don't attract the same taxes as fares. In a perfect world, a compromise would be reached to lower fare taxes and increase fee taxes to get rid of them. But in today's political climate, taxes will be imposed according to the airline CEO preferences (hiding them in fares and nailing people with hidden fees), and always increasing to feed both parties greed.
Bag fees were introduced at $25 in 2008. It took a decade to go up the first $5, and two years to jump the next $5. I agree with the others, it's greed.
Southwest now has among the highest fares. Costs more to take them from OAK-SAN (1.4 hrs) than Jet Blue fm, SFO-FLL (5.5 hrs)