American Airlines is the latest airline to announce that it would be increasing bag fees, effective today. Prices as follows:
- $50 for first checked bag (up $10)
- $55 for second checked bag (up $10)
- $200 for third checked bag (up $50)
You do get a $5 discount on first and checked bag if you prepay. I imagine that there were some nervous executives that were worried when the ceasefire was first announced that they had missed their chance to increase bag fees under the guise of increased fuel costs.
JetBlue was the first to increase fees, followed by United then Delta and Southwest. Airlines are increasing bag fees instead of fuel surcharges as bag fees don’t affect elites or cardholders and there is no pressure to decrease them once fuel costs decrease.
