Cruising Altitude is a weekly column about air travel.
A higher checked bag fee? In this economy? Yes.
All the major U.S. airlines — American, United, Delta, Southwest, and JetBlue — announced in the last few weeks that they are raising their bag fees. I’m sorry to say the $45 checked-bag fee is the new normal. The price won’t go back down.
The carriers all generally cited higher operational costs as the reason for raising the bag fees. With oil prices rising due to the Iran war, airlines’ costs have indeed gone up for now, but it’s unlikely that bag fees will come down again once oil gets less expensive.
“There is no chance that these bag fees are going in the opposite direction,” Brett Snyder, author of the blog Cranky Flier and owner of the travel agency Cranky Concierge, told me.
“Bag fees will only go up. The only way that could change is if there’s a change in the model,” he added.
Snyder pointed out that airlines once charged change and cancellation fees across the board, but did away with those in a rare consumer-friendly move during the COVID-19 pandemic. Those fees have not yet made a return.
Why Are Bag Fees Increasing?
Bag fees are increasing because airlines want to generate more revenue without raising ticket prices. Travelers rarely think about the full cost of their trip when they decide to make a flight reservation.
“The reason we’re seeing this increase in the baggage fees as opposed to tickets is because we do compare on the tickets … that’s the big amount, that’s what you see when you’re shopping, that’s what’s salient,” Vicki Morwitz, the Bruce Greenwald Professor of Business and a professor of Marketing at Columbia Business School, told me. “It’s important to try your best to consider all that and compare the total price. When people are far from the trip, they’re more optimistic about their ability to save money.”
Morwitz added that airlines recognize that economic shocks, such as the surge in oil prices, provide good cover for raising prices without offending their customers, too.
“There was probably some plan at some point to increase baggage fees, and this just gave them an opportunity to do it sooner and do it in reaction to something that would be perceived to be more acceptable,” she said. “The academic literature suggests, (that) we never like (it) when prices increase, but if we think firms are doing it because their costs are going up, not because they just want to make more money, we find it more fair.”
A Brief History of Airline Checked Bag Fees
Checked bag fees have almost always been introduced and adjusted in response to an economic shock.
“About 20-ish years ago, we got similar pressures with the Great Recession and airlines started to think about ways they could raise money. At first, they threw on a fee for the second checked bag,” Snyder said. “American was the first to roll out fees for the first checked bag. That was a realization that when people are buying plane tickets, they don’t take bag fees into account.”
Spiking oil prices were a major factor in the decision to implement the first checked bag fee in 2008. And so, as oil prices once again experience a run-up, airlines are turning to the same tried-and-true playbook. None of us should be surprised — and we shouldn’t expect airlines to benevolently reduce the fees in the future, because companies generally don’t like to leave money on the table once they’ve opened a new revenue stream.
According to the Bureau of Transportation Statistics, U.S. airlines collected a combined $7.3 billion in bag fees in 2024.
What Does This Mean for Overhead Bin Space?
It’s possible that higher checked-bag fees could entice some people who would previously have checked a bag to opt for carry-on luggage only, but it’s not likely to have a huge effect on the already-harried scrum for overhead bin space.
“If you’re willing to pay $35 to check a bag, you’re willing to pay $45,” Snyder said. “I don’t know that the $10 is going to really make or break things. If anything, it might push more people to get the credit card.”
The higher fee also comes at a time when more travelers than ever are accepting the fact that they may have to pay to check a bag.
How Can You Avoid Paying a Checked Bag Fee?
“It is an optional fee; you don’t have to check a bag, so they may look for ways to avoid it,” Morwitz said.
The three big ways to avoid paying a checked bag fee are:
- Buy a ticket that includes a checked bag. Many airlines offer fare bundles that include add-ons like seat selection or checked bags as part of the fee. In some ways, you’re still paying for your checked bags with this option, but it may still be more cost-effective than paying the fee separately.
- Get an airline credit card. Most airline co-branded credit cards include a first checked bag fee as a perk. If you frequently travel on the same airline, it’s worth exploring the perks that come with their credit cards and seeing if a product is a good fit for you.
- Achieve frequent flyer elite status. Free checked bags are also often a frequent flyer status perk, so if you can concentrate your flying onto one airline primarily, you may not have to pay for your bags.
Otherwise, be prepared to pay.
Zach Wichter is a travel reporter and writes the Cruising Altitude column for USA TODAY.
Add a Comment