The Birds and the Fees

Packing a few extra swim shorts this summer is about to get even more expensive with airlines announcing new rounds of baggage fees.

Always striving to be ahead of the riff-raff, fee pioneer United Airlines announced that starting June 10 it will begin charging $20 for the first checked bag, $25 for the second. Passengers who pay the fees in advance online can still get the old “deal,” $15 and $20, respectively.

That move trumps US Airways, which will unroll the same fee structure, but not until July 9. And in a new twist, Air Jamaica will begin charging passengers traveling between New York and Grenada or Barbados  $25 for a second checked bag. Oh, did I mention that second bag is guaranteed to arrive only at some undetermined point within the next week? And, yeah, you have to return to the airport to pick it up yourself. 

If you think you can get out of paying fees by traveling with a carry-on only, think again. Ireland’s irascible Ryanair (they of the proposed fat tax) will introduce an online check-in fee of £5/€5 as of May 20. But if you don’t check in online, that will be €40/£40, guv’nor.

These fees aren’t going anywhere but up, folks—the U.S. Transportation Department reported this week that airlines made $1.1 billion from luggage fees alone in 2008. And so far, although there has been lots of wingeing, consumers aren’t changing their flying habits: It’s still all about price, price, price, even if that cheap flight sees you ponying up at the baggage counter. As aviation expert Julie Johnsson said this week, “You don’t leave money on the table.”

So how do these fees make you feel about flying? Take our poll (you’ll find it in about halfway down the page on the right), and let us know in the comments section below what fees would change your travel habits.