When Alaska Airlines (ALK) became the first to bring down the axe and raise its baggage fees to $35 for the first checked bag in December 2023, many worried that other airlines would quickly follow suit.
Airlines tend to do this together in "waves" in order to avoid passenger outcry by hiding behind each other — Delta Air Lines (DAL) , American Airlines (AAL) and United Airlines (UAL) all raised the cost of the first checked bag on an economy ticket from $25 to $30 in 2018 that then stayed unchanged for the next four years.
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In the last two months, airlines such as JetBlue (JBLU) and American both followed Alaska with an increase to their checked baggage fees. The former now charges some of the steepest baggage fees in the industry with $45 for the first bag if the traveler waits until the airport to pay it and from $50 to $60 for a second bag depending on whether one adds it up to 24 hours before the flight or at the airport.
United Airlines is the latest airline to raise baggage fees by $5
United Airlines is now also increasing the price of checked baggage by $5 — a first suitcase now costs $35 if booked online at least 24 hours before the flight and $40 if booked at the airport. A second suitcase will cost travelers $50.
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As with the other airlines, United's changes do not affect the free suitcase that travelers in a higher fare class or with airline status will continue to receive. Some also get this perk through a credit card with that airline.
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In its statement on the changes, United stressed that it is raising the fees "for the first time in four years" and that "active military members and customers traveling in premium cabins can still check a bag for free."
The changes also apply only to shorter flights within the continental U.S. and Canada. The standard across the industry is for a transatlantic economy ticket to include at least one free bag, although this could also come with a fee on low-cost airlines,
As airlines' baggage fees continue to reach new heights, there has been an increase in passengers who fit all the things they want to bring on their trip into a carry-on suitcase and then bring it aboard the flight.
As a result of more people doing this, planes that were built at a time when more people checked their bags often do not have the overhead space to accommodate everyone's carry-ons and the airlines end up asking those with larger bags to check them for free — causing, in turn, another problem in which passengers fight over who gets to board the flight first.
"The airlines did this," USA Today's travel columnist Christopher Elliott wrote in a recent column. "They're trying to profit from your fear of being forced to check your carry-on bag or even your fear of missing the flight altogether. And they've also managed to create a class of entitled passengers who think they deserve to be first on the plane."
