Airlines Raise Bagge Fees- Blame Oil Prices

Earlier this week JetBlue raised checked bag fees and blamed it on “the cost of rising fuel”. As expected, every airline followed suit. Alaska was the lone hold out until yesterday, April 9th. These new fees are even more of a reason to look at airline co-branded credit cards. Now, just two checked bags will help you break even on the annual fee for all airline co-branded cards.

New Checked Bag Fees

The below chart shows all the new checked bag fees with each airlines. Whent here are two numbers, it means the price if you pay in advance vs. paying at the airport.

My Thoughts

While I certainly understand that rising fuel costs will make it more expensive for flights to operate. There’s no chance any airline will decrease their checked bag fees when oil prices drop. They are using this as a way to push passengers to pay more for bags and/or push everyone to get their co-branded credit card.