While other airlines have been nibbling around the edges of the checked bag fee question with one set of fees for those paying online and another for those paying at the airport, American Airlines has come out and bluntly said, “Pay more.” Nothing subtle about it.
Effective August 14, 2009, first-checked-bag fees will go from $15 to $20 and second-checked-bag fees will increase by $5 to $30.
Prior to this move, Delta air Lines and USAirways had announced $20 fees for first checked bags, but had kept the $15 charge for those who charged their bags online prior to arriving at the airport. Passengers can expect the airport fees to jump to $20 almost immediately and the online discount may or may not stick. My prediction: the online discount will disappear; why bother?
For anyone confused about the state of airline fees, Kayak.com has a good fee chart. It is relatively up to date, though it still doesn’t include (as of July 27, 2009) the new American Airline fees. Another handy chart is provided by Airfare Watchdog; again, the new AA fees are not yet added.
In the old days, I would have said, “American will wait for other airlines to follow.” However, in today’s marketplace we know every other major airline will follow in American’s footsteps, and quickly.
There is just too much money in those bags these days. And if passengers continue to show no regard for the added fees by shifting to airlines like Southwest and JetBlue that have lower fee structures, every airline will assume consumers don’t really care and all fees will keep going sky high.
Charlie Leocha is the President of Travelers United. He has been working in Washington, DC, for the past 14 years with Congress, the Department of Transportation, and industry stakeholders on travel issues. He was the first consumer representative to the Advisory Committee for Aviation Consumer Protections appointed by the Secretary of Transportation from 2012 through 2018.
