Airline Baggage Fees: Another One Bites the Dust
Tip It!Northwest Airlines (NWA) has officially joined the ranks of airlines that charge for the privilege of checking luggage. Their new policy calls for a $15 fee on the first checked bag, a $25 fee on the second bag, and a $100 fee for the third bag (and beyond). This policy is in effect for tickets sold on or after July 10th for flights originating on or after August 28th. Elite frequent flyer members and those that purchase full-fare tickets are exempt.
Starting September 15th, NWA will also start charging for the redemption frequent flyer miles. It will cost $25 for domestic flight, $50 for a transatlantic flight, and $100 for a transpacific flight. Finally, they are also increasing their fees for making changes to non-refundable ticket by $50.
While Northwest refers to these fees as “temporary,” this doesn’t bode well for fans of Delta Airlines (DAL) — the two companies recently agreed to merge and will operate in the future under the Delta name.
Published on July 11th, 2008 - 11 Comments
Filed under: Travel
About the author: Nickel is the founder and editor-in-chief of this site. He's a thirty-something family man who has been writing about personal finance since 2005, and guess what? He's on Twitter!
Related articles...
» Applying for an AmEx Delta SkyMiles Credit Card» Delta to Waive Baggage Fee for AmEx SkyMiles Credit Card Holders
» Are Fuel Related Charges Here to Stay?
» Home Addition Update: Drywall Dust, Dust, and More Dust
» The Downside of Travel Rewards
» Ask Your Credit Card Company to Reverse Fees
» Recent eBay Results
» How Much are Frequent Flyer Miles Worth?
Was this article useful? Please sign up to receive our content via e-mail:
11 Responses to “Airline Baggage Fees: Another One Bites the Dust”
Leave a Reply
Top Cards by Category
Earn $200 Bonus Cash Back after you make $500 in purchases in your first 3 months. 5% Cash Back on up to $1,500 spent in bonus categories each quarter.
Earn up to 20,000 bonus miles with your first purchase 10,000 of which count as Medallion(R) Qualification Miles. Earn up to 5,000 bonus miles when you add two additional cards to your account with initial application.
Earn 30,000 bonus miles toward Award Travel when you spend $500 on the Card in the first three months from account opening. Receive double miles on Delta purchases.
Enjoy a 0% introductory rate for 18 months on Balance Transfers and 6 months on Purchases. Earn up to 5% cash back in categories that change.
Enjoy no balance transfer fee for a limited time. 0% introductory rate on Balance Transfers and Purchases. Earn up to 5% Cashback Bonus in categories that change like gas, restaurants, department stores and more. Limitations apply*
Enjoy no balance transfer fee for a limited time. 0% introductory rate on Balance Transfers and Purchases. Earn up to 5% Cashback Bonus in categories that change like gas, restaurants, department stores and more. Limitations apply*
Enjoy amenities for you and your business, like: complimentary airport club access, including American Airlines Admirals Club(R) lounges.
5% Cashback Bonus in categories that change like gas, restaurants, department stores and more. Limitations apply*. Up to 1% unlimited Cashback Bonus on everything else. No annual fee
Earn 3X points on airfare, 2X points on gas and groceries, and 1X points on everything else.
Reports to 3 major credit bureaus monthly and acceptance at millions of locations worldwide, including website purchases and reservations.
- How to Become a Millionaire
- How to Get Out of Debt
- The Best Dollars I've Ever Spent
- How Our Estate Plan is Structured
- How We Paid Our Mortgage In Less than 10 Years
- Money Making Ideas
- How to Manage Your Asset Allocation with Multiple Accounts
- Consumption Smoothing - Save While the Saving's Good
- How to Save on Groceries
- How Much Life Insurance Do You Need?
- Eleven Great Books About Money
- Dave Ramsey is Bad at Math
- Dish Network Customer Service SUCKS
- $8,000 Homebuyer Tax Credit
- Pay Off Mortgage Early or Invest?
- How to Claim the First-Time Homebuyer Tax Credit
- Reduced Credit Limits? Share Your Experience
- $15,000 Homebuyer Tax Credit
- Ethanol Blended Gas = Lower Mileage?
- Termite Control: Sentricon vs. Termidor
- How Much Should You Pay a Babysitter?
- Federal Income Tax Rates Went Down but Your Federal Tax Withholding Increased. Here's Why...
- Would the "Fair Tax" Gut the Economy?
How to save money on insurance
- Double-Check Your Ally CDs
- Stocks are Not Bonds, CDs, or Savings Accounts
- The Best Values in Colleges - 2012 Edition
- Five Myths About Renter's Insurance
- Own Your Investments, Rent Your Fun
- Citibank to Issue Credit Cards in China
- Heartstrings and Pursestrings
- Saving Money at the Grocery Store: Store Brand Pricing on the Rise
- Missing Tax Paperwork?
- Is Your Investment Allocation Right?
July 11th, 2008 at 2:29 pm
God help us. Now to save $25, people will be trying to stuff their life possessions in the overheads, 2x deep so they can have that nice footroom. Damn all the unlucky #$!$! behind them that have *NOWHERE* to put their luggage.
July 11th, 2008 at 4:17 pm
Not only will everyone be cramming enormous carry-ons into the overhead bins, but it will take twice as long to board and leave the plane. Remember a few years ago when the guy had the liquid bomb on the plane and for about 2 weeks no one was allowed to bring anything on a commercail plane? Airlines were amazed at how quickly people got on and off the plane when they had no carry-on baggage allowing their flights to depart on-time. Go figure.
July 11th, 2008 at 11:30 pm
Everything in moderation. I actually like the policy. At least I know that my own actions result in me paying more as opposed to having them just raise my ticket price by $100 and say “don’t worry about it.”
But my guess is that the price of the ticket is going up another “Ben Franklin” in any event. Gas prices are changing EVERYTHING!!!
July 11th, 2008 at 11:35 pm
Kevin: I agree to a point. Unfortunately, as many have pointed out, the workaround for this will be for people to try to carry more stuff onto the plane. It probably won’t be long until they crack down on carry-ons. If they’re really worried about weight, they price tickets by the pound. The heavier you are, the more you pay.
July 12th, 2008 at 12:16 pm
> If they’re really worried about weight, they price tickets
> by the pound. The heavier you are, the more you pay.
Behold!
http://flyderriair.com
July 12th, 2008 at 12:55 pm
I’d love to see ticket prices by the pound. Aa an average sized female who pays the same price for a ticket as everyone else I don’t like it when an overweight person or even someone with broad shoulders spills over into my area. Price ‘em by the pound and it might even help people to lose some weight.
July 13th, 2008 at 1:11 am
The airlines are sticking it to us anyway they can!
I recently flew first class from D.C. to New Orleans (company ticket). It’s roughly a two hour flight that left at 5pm local time. There was no meal, or snack served on the flight. My company paid an extra $500 for a 3″ wider seat for my skinny a$$.
The planes are still way overbooked, the terminals are crowded. I do not understand why they just don’t raise the price of their fares? It’s ridiculous!
Flying used to be fun, even as short as 6 years ago! It really sucks now!!
July 13th, 2008 at 1:21 pm
I can see this being a little positive in that perhaps it will get people thinking twice about over-packing, at least for those who know about the fee and travel enough to remember that it will be charged.
As someone who already travels 40k+ miles a year, I have to travel carry-on only as it just takes wayyyy too much time to check and pick-up luggage between conference calls and blackberry usage through the terminal on the way to a cab and the next meeting! It sucks when there’s no room in the overhead bins, but it’s not a big deal… the attendant usually can make room and worst case they just check it at the door (which has never happened to me).
July 14th, 2008 at 4:21 pm
How long until we start paying for how much we weigh? That would be interesting, I wonder how they would sell it? BMI or just weight?
I also am hating the fact that since they are charging for bags, they will end up forcing so many people to have TONS of carry on!! Arrgh.
July 14th, 2008 at 4:30 pm
I’d recommend just charging an overweight surcharge. As a matter of fact, it should be based off the idea that if you are going to take up half my seat, you should just buy my seat too and I’ll be booked somewhere else. If I can’t put the arm rest down while you’re in your seat then surcharge applies.
July 27th, 2008 at 12:43 pm
Yet one more reason why we take the train everywhere. These airlines are going to run themselves right out of business, even with the millions (or is it billions?) that the Govt. gives them in subsidies.