These American Airlines Charge the Highest Baggage Fees, According to a New Report
US airlines brought in roughly $ 4.9 billion – yes, a billion – in baggage fees last year, according to a new report from the Bureau of Transport Statistics. This is more than in 2017 – $ 4.6 billion.
The biggest culprits and the biggest airlines, American and United, took the largest amounts of those fees, resulting in a staggering $ 1.2 billion and $ 888 million, respectively. Why increase?
In 2018, JetBlue, American, United, Alaska and Delta raised their fees for things like checked and oversized baggage, which likely explains the surge, although Delta was the only airline that didn’t earn more in 2018. a one-time (almost doubled) increase in commissions last year, likely to reflect the commissions associated with the recent acquisition of Virgin America.
According to the report, here are how many other airlines accrued on baggage last year compared to 2017:
- American Airlines: $ 1,211,461 million (up from $ 1,172,728 million).
- United: $ 888,740 million (up from $ 794,489 million).
- Delta: $ 788,464 million (up from $ 907,626 million)
- Spirit: $ 638,242 million (up from $ 492,645 million).
- Frontier: $ 366,439 million (up from $ 364,142 million)
- JetBlue: $ 321,189 million (up from $ 289,839 million).
- Alaska: $ 279,667 million (up from $ 147,243 million)
- Allegiant: $ 218,560 million (up from $ 192,583 million)
- Hawaiians: $ 84,723 million (up from $ 81,156 million)
- Southwest: $ 49,949 million (up from $ 46,111 million)
- Sun Country: $ 36,160 million (up from $ 20,056 million).
And the 2019 report probably won’t look any better. Several of these airlines raised baggage prices late last year, which means 2019 will be the first year to see these huge changes.
If you’re looking to save on baggage fees, having a co-branded airline credit card or elite status will protect you from at least some of these tolls, as we wrote earlier .
And if you’re willing to take the risk, try dropping your bag at the gate; You may not be charged a baggage fee, but you still have to pack your bag to get through the security line, which could mean avoiding oversized liquids. You can also get acquainted with the fees table for luggage Airfare Watch Dog, to see which airlines charge more just listed or extra luggage.