Updated every Monday!   Subscribe to free weekly newsletter.

New Luggage Limits: Sky High Fees for Extra Bags

Many major airlines (Continental, Delta, Northwest, United, and US Airways) are limiting the number of bags you can check free to one per coach passenger, effective May 5, 2008. UPDATE: American Airlines just announced it will limit the free allowance to one bag for tickets purchased on or after May 12, 2008.

Some people will be exempt from the new charges. As one example, here is who gets a free pass at Delta:

*MOUSE PRINT: “Business Elite® and First Class passengers are allowed 3 checked bags at no charge up to 70 lbs. ” [see checked baggage rule]

What are the fees if you go over the limit at Delta for coach passengers?

*MOUSE PRINT:

delta bag policy

So the first extra bag is $25 each way, but additional bags can be as high as $180 each way. And if you are flying overseas, forget it. They could ding you for as much $600 each way.

To add insult to injury, Delta still maintains other baggage rules that must be complied with, or you will be assessed an additional penalty:

*MOUSE PRINT:

delta bag policy 2

*MOUSE PRINT: Delta actual says:

You’ll be charged an excess baggage fee each time you go over any one of the free allowances.

For example, if you have an extra piece of baggage that goes over the weight limit and the size limit, then you’ll be charged 3 times:

  • once for the extra bag,
  • once for going over the size limit, and
  • once for going over the weight limit.

Fees are for each additional bag, each way.

In other words, you will be triple surcharged. If that was your second bag, it would cost you $25 for going over the limit, plus $80 more because it was too heavy, plus $150 more because it was oversized. That is $255 in all. And the charge is each way.

The rules vary airline to airline. Here is a summary of airline baggage policies with links to the actual policy detail.

The friendly skies are looking anything but friendly these days.

Share this story:
All comments are reviewed before being published, and may be edited. Comments that are off-topic, contain personal attacks, are political, or are otherwise inappropriate will be deleted.

30 thoughts on “New Luggage Limits: Sky High Fees for Extra Bags”

  1. Fuel prices are costing the airlines a fortune right now and if they want to make up the difference by charging people for
    extra luggage I would rather they do that then raise the fares too high for me to travel. Fares will be going up
    as well, dramatically, however put this in perspective on how much more we pay to drive our cars. I worked
    briefly as an airline agent, checking people in and taking their bags and let me tell you, some people want to
    pack their kitchen sink. I don’t want to have to pay for these knuckleheads with higher prices for my ticket, let
    them pay more or learn how to pack more effeciently.

  2. On this, I actually side with the airlines. Your airfare buys you TRAVEL for yourself to and from somewhere – it does not buy you cargo shipping. One suitcase ought to be plenty. This policy should discourage over-packing which in turn will mean less fuel usage in an area where Americans already consume more than our fair share. If this encourages people to be more sparing in their packing (and ultimately, their contribution to the plane’s fuel usage), I’m all for it.

  3. This is one of the oldest tricks in the book. The addtional extra charges for baggage are the airlines way of raising your airfare without calling it price increase.

  4. First, the airlines decreased the weight and size of bags you
    could check as part of your ticket cost (unless you wanted to
    pay a hefty surcharge). Then, when that caused folks to check
    two bags instead, they started charging for that extra bag.

    When we fly to our destination for extended backpacking trips,
    we have to first disassemble our packs to meet the size limits
    as well as pack boots and food separately to meet weight limits.
    Now that second bag will incur a big surcharge.

    This is only the latest airline gimmick that has caused us to
    change our travel strategy. If we can drive there in one day,
    we no longer fly. The process is simply too irritating and
    unpleasant.

  5. Frankly, I’m surprised that the greedy airlines haven’t started weighing passengers and charging us X amount for every pound overweight we are.

  6. Sounds to me like it’d be easier & cheaper to ship your suitcases via UPS/FedEx/DHL than it would be to pay for all that extra hassle. Plus your stuff is then insured and it will actually meet you at your destination!

  7. I’m really looking forward to the day airlines begin charging people based on total weight. Big fatties and andre the giant types should carry their portion of fuel costs. Us normal sized people who dont dine at Micky D’s twice a day should be rewarded for our pragmatic choices. If your genetically large and lean, tuff, drive a car. You’re a small portion of the population, a minority, so it should be a concern to the majority who has to bear the weight of your size. Seacrest out.

  8. I was very careful when buying my tickets for a RT flight at the end of July/beginning of August to pick one that did NOT charge extra for a second bag. However I purchased those tickets on April 1 and the cut-off for being “grandfathered” in is March 29. This is so ridiculous.

  9. Maybe not weigh people, but how about if they measure their width?
    If you are wider than the seat, you pay for the second one, this would prevent the
    “spill-over” that inevitably happens when a 36″ wide person tries to fit in the 24″ wide seat.
    Seems like this always happens to me and I have to sit squeezed up against their
    fat, gross, sweaty body for the entire flight.

  10. I agree with Amy. The air fare you are paying is to transport you as an individual and enough luggage for you to be reasonably clothed for short period of time. All else, including the items for an extended back packing trip, should be considered freight and handled as such. Ajewel has the right idea. Ship the excesss as freight. It may be cheaper and it doesn’t overload the baggage claim area. Pick up your freight at the freight dock. Who needs to have access to more than two bags upon arrival at their destination? Ship the excess early so that it is waiting for you when you arrive.

  11. As a bonus, if you ship your luggage via UPS/FedEx/DHL you don’t have to worry about some minimum wage earning TSA employee rummaging through your luggage and stealing your stuff.

    Peace Out!
    Shawn

  12. Robert,
    I’m curious where you get the idea that all fat people eat at Mickey D’s. I am fat and I have boycotted Mickey D’s (due to their aberrant employment practices) since I was 15 (I’m 30 now). Additionally, I am a vegetarian an an avid cyclist. Some people will just be fat. The problem with charging people by weight is that you know that there will be some “minimum” established by the airlines and that fat people will be charged overage fees. This means that UNDERweight people will never realize their portion of the savings from having OVERcharged fat people. Just like when you buy a size S/M t-shirt, you are paying the SAME as someone who buys an XL but the person who buys an XXL will get charged $3+ more that DOES NOT get passed on to the S/M customer as a savings for having required LESS materials.

  13. Hilarious…I was just telling my wife the same thing: In a year or two they’ll make us all hop on the scales, and charge us extra for every pound over, say, 150.

    Who knew you could check TEN bags? I had no idea. I thought some combination of three was all you got, and anything else you had to send by mail. Maybe next time we move house, we’ll go by plane. 😉

    As for airline travel, it really is time we let the big carriers go under and let more intelligently-run ones spring up to take their places. We should’ve done it after September 11th instead of bailing them out. With this latest move, they’ve proven that they don’t know even the first thing about customer service. What on earth would cause them to think people would rather be nickel-and-dimed instead of just paying a higher price and getting more included? I’d think that by now one of the airlines would’ve picked up on this, raised their prices $100 or $200, and started advertising more legroom, better food, free baggage, and the like.

  14. Wow, some real prejudices have come out here.

    The amount of luggage you require is directly proportionate to the length of time before your return flight home. If you are going to stay in Europe for 28 days, you likely need more than one suitcase. While airlines should take this into account, there is no guarantee you will return home on the same airline, depending on what dates and times each company makes flights. If airlines wanted to ensure passengers used the same airline to return home, they should offer extra bags based on length of stay (2 weeks plus = 2 free bags).

    It is also getting ridiculous what the airliners do and don’t consider carry on luggage these days. Last time I had to fly, the backpack that has been my carry on luggage for years, was now ‘too large’ even though the flight crew refused to answer whether the plane had been fitted with new, smaller, overhead bins. The flight crew made the same assertion to many other passengers as well. We were all given the choice, cough of $25 (cash only exact change please) or leave our items behind. The plane was even underbooked, there were open seats and overhead compartments that had not been used!

    Since my pack contained my work laptop, I coughed up the $25, and they stowed the bag under the plane. My laptop’s case was cracked, and the airline is refusing to pay for the damage because the bag “Was not adequately packed to protect electronic equipment”.

  15. Excuse me?? Why are those of us sitting in the back paying all the fees? Do we not suffer enough? Is it not bad enough that we have already been reduced to only a small bag of peanuts, a drink and one bathroom? Now we are only allowed one piece of luggage because we are working two to three jobs to finally be able to afford the one vacation every two years? This is ridiculous!! How else shall we be “nickeled” and “dimed”? Does this mean now that I only have one bag on the plane that it will arrive at my destination or that I won’t have to wait three hours for it because it was put on the wrong plane??

    So instead people will check one piece of luggage and take one on the plane with them. So then please explain to me then what this new “rule” has proven to do? It has just made people to become more creative in how to get around a rule. Plllllllllllease!!!

  16. Does this mean that we are allowed one checked bag per ticket holder and one carry on item? I am confused.

    Edgar replies: Yes.

  17. I don’t have a problem with them charging for extra bags, but I do have a problem with this penalty model they have set up where an excess bag ends up costing more than your ticket. The prices to carry excess bags should be something close to what it actually costs the airline to transport the bag. In fact they should price the secondary bag fees in a way that encourages people to check another bag yet allows them to make a profit on it as thats essentially one more product that they can sell. And I always did thought charging people to check one 70# bag was dumb when they could check 2 50# bags for free.

  18. I’m not sure what the fuss is all about. I can go on a 24 day holiday quite easily with a small backpack weighing 25 pounds. I just do my laundry wherever I’m staying. Just wash stuff once or twice a week and you can last indefinitely on a small bag.

  19. So I’m traveling out of the country for over ten days…one 50 lbs bag is suppose to carry all my stuff? i wear extra small clothes and i pack light ..but this is still not going to cut it for me and my family of five. I wouldn’t mind paying a little extra if they could ensure not to lose or break my stuff but come on I’m better off paying for another ticket and setting my luggage on a seat! It will be cheaper and safer. So much for helping the economy boost.

  20. Liz, as I understand it the cost is per ticket. So a family of five gets to take five bags. That should reasonably be enough. And as you are going out of the country, the bag limit is 2 per person if I understand the table correctly.

  21. For all of you that this new policy offends I have a suggestion. Go Greyhound, Amtrak, or just drive. Oh wait, that would cost more AND take more time. This is a free country, no one is forcing you to choose air travel as your mode of transportation, and contrary to popular belief, air travel is not a “right”; it is a privilege.

    I would like someone to name another product in which the average price of EXACTLY the same product has substantially decreased over a thirty year period, while the cost of operating has been steadily increasing.

  22. Michael, although you make a good point about the overall cost, the computer industry matches your requirement–everything is significantly cheaper for what you get than it was 5 years ago, 10 years ago, 15 years ago, etc.

    Tying these two together, the great improvements in computer technology have allowed many other industries to cut costs. In airlines, this savings came in decreased airplane and maintenance costs. However, I do think that their competitive nature took them a bit too far to the point where we EXPECTED low prices.

    On the flip side, industries like rail transit have not taken advantage of the computer improvements to reduce costs as well. If they did, they would probably become the defacto standard for short-distance trips (under 200 miles.) They also have not gotten a grasp for what would draw people into their industry. Rather than trying to make efficient runs that are cost effective to all, they take the assumption that everyone wants to stop every 5 miles to pick up more passengers. Looking at the NYC “local-express” idea would solve their problems.

    Anyway, back to airlines, with baggage fees, etc., it sure feels like they’re trying to nickel-and-dime us to death rather than charge a reasonable price for the flight and eat the inevitable costs of luggage, food and like amenities.

  23. Update: I heard on the news last weekend that one american carrier (not sure on which one) will now also charge for the first bag to be stored in the cargo hold.

  24. I am with Drak. No matter where I go or how long I’m staying I have my pocketbook and my one carry-on luggage (that is standard size.) If I have to pack my laptop, it gets nestled between my clothes so I don’t have to take my laptop bag also. I just find a way to do laundry. It isn’t the most luxurious thing to do, I suppose; but how much time does it really takeout of your 28-day holiday to take a few hours to do laundry?

  25. This would seem to require a new topic for more discussion.
    I’ve heard that some airlines are now charging extra for seats: $5 for middle, and higher for window or aisle. So are we supposed to sit on the floor for the price of our ticket? I must have missed something on that report.

  26. British Airways(BA) will add up to £240 to the cost of selected return long-haul flight destinations if passengers want to check in an extra bag from today. Passengers will face a £120 bill per extra bag on longhaul trips for each leg of the journey and a £60 fee per extra bag on European journeys, on domestic flights the charge is £30 .
    Under the changes the majority of customers will be able to put a bag with a maximum weight of 32kg in the hold – but only in a single item of luggage. This allowance will be reduced to 23kg after September 30 this year.

  27. I don’t have a big problem with the charges for extra bags. The baggage information is available online,
    on your ticket, by phone, etc, so you should know the requirements when you show up at the airport. When it
    comes to carryons, I am far more annoyed by the people who hog the overhead bin space or hold up the plane
    while someone gets them a gatecheck ticket because they want to haul a full-size suitcase on – suck it up and
    check your bag. It really doesn’t take that much longer. I think charging more for window or aisle seats
    is far more egregious and really unfair to passengers.

    Someone mentioned rail transit earlier and I would love to take the train when I vacation – problem is that
    I have yet to find an Amtrak train that runs at any sort of convenient time. The station in our city is in a
    notoriously bad neighborhood and trains always arrive and depart in the wee hours of the morning, and
    usually the price is nearly that of an airline ticket. What’s the point of that?

  28. It isn’t just that fuel costs are rising, it is that they fuel needed to make the trip has increased. This is because fuel calculations were once made with a much lower assumed average weight per passenger. The average passenger now weighs as much a passenger and their luggage used to. Instead of charging people directly for bringing extra weight on the plane and charging only those people, the airlines decided to punish everyone.

    The fees the airline charges are highway robbery when I can’t even be assured that I will receive my entire seat instead of having some enormous guy take up half of it.

    Seriously, there is no reason to enjoy flying anymore. There just isn’t. You have to show up way too early to go through tons of screening that has a high failure rate and thus doesn’t make us any safer; you get to have less luggage; you get to pay for snacks on the plane; and then coach wedges you up against obese customers.

    I remember when your family could still come up and greet you at the terminal…

Comments are closed.