Party is over for fliers who carry extra baggage
By Gary Stoller
USA Today
The days of airline ticket agents giving a break to fliers with extra baggage may be fading as fast as paper tickets.
Saddled with increased fuel costs and looking for more revenue, airlines are raising prices and tightening their checked-bag policies.
They're also cracking down on overweight and oversized bags that can cause injuries to their employees. American, Southwest and US Airways have changed policies within the past few months.
"There was a lot of winking going on in the past," says Thom Nulty, Aloha Airlines' senior vice president. "Now we're monitoring it very closely to collect what's owed us."
Most airlines allow two free checked bags per person. Southwest, JetBlue and ATA allow three. United also allows its best customers — those enrolled in such programs as Global Service, 1K Premier Executive, Premier Executive and Star Alliance Gold — a third piece free.
Fees for extra bags vary by airline. United, for example, charges $80 per piece for domestic flights.
Delta charges $40 for the first bag, $80 each for the second and third, $105 each for the fourth through sixth and $180 each for the seventh and additional pieces.
Independence Air spokesman Rick DeLisi says that a very small percentage — 2 percent or less — of the airline's passengers with checked baggage have excess bags. At Hawaiian Airlines, it's about 12 percent or less, Vice President Keoni Wagner estimates.
Destination and time of year can affect rules and fees. No extra bags can be checked on United flights, for example, from Los Angeles to Costa Rica, El Salvador and Guatemala during upcoming peak travel periods: May 28-Sept. 6 and Dec. 4-Jan. 6.
At other times on those routes, United says, passengers are limited to three extra bags at a fee of $100 each.
United spokeswoman Robin Urbanski says there are certain times of the year when the average amount of checked bags increases, specifically in Latin America.
"Additional restrictions are put in place to help prevent the cargo section of the plane from getting too filled to accommodate all customers' bags," she says.
Other airlines have similar policies on some routes, so it makes sense for fliers to go to carriers' Web sites to find the latest information.
Some big airlines' checked-baggage policies can be lengthy and complex. United posts nine pages of checked-baggage policies on its Web site.
Rules and rates have been changing throughout the industry. Before changing its policies, Midwest Airlines did a study to find out whether it was being adequately compensated for the work of handling overweight and excess bags and the extra fuel burned because of the weight of the luggage, spokeswoman Carol Skornicka said.
• Southwest last month began charging $25 for bags weighing from 51 to 70 pounds. In the past, bags weighing up to 70 pounds were free.
• American reduced in March to 50 pounds from 70 pounds its weight limit for a free checked bag on an international flight.
• US Airways boosted in March its charge to $90 from $80 for each of a passenger's first three excess bags. The rate for an overweight bag increased to $30 from $5 for those weighing from 50 to 70 pounds, or $85 for those weighing from 71 to 100 pounds.
• Midwest Airlines decreased the amount of free checked bags to two from three. It also dropped to 50 pounds from 70 its weight limit for a free checked bag and raised its fee for oversized checked bags to $80 from $50.
California-based frequent flier Barry Bleidt has spotted some of the changes. "I have noticed more signs about excess-baggage charges at the counters and closer attention being paid to the weight of the bags," the college professor says. "I have noticed more customers removing items from a bag to get it to the weight limit."
That's what happened to Ron Svensson, president of an Atlanta company in the decorative plumbing industry.
He says a United agent made him remove some brochures, a binder and books to get a bag within the weight limit. "They gave me a plastic bag to carry it onto the plane without charging for the excessive weight," he says. "That had me puzzled, because the same weight is on the same plane."
United's Urbanski says each section of a plane, including the baggage hold and the passenger cabin, has its own weight limit to ensure the jet is safely balanced. "I think our employee was trying to be courteous by saving the customer money and providing him with a bag for his belongings."
Southwest's customer agents allow passengers with an overweight checked bag to remove some things inside and transfer them to a large travel bag that the airline sells for $25. That price is cheaper than paying the overweight fee for both legs of a round-trip itinerary, and the passenger gets to keep the bag, Southwest spokeswoman Melanie Jones says.
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