Delta Air Lines, Continental Airlines raise fees for checked bag

Delta Airlines and Continental Airlines have increased fees for checked baggage.

Delta Air Lines, based in Atlanta, Georgia, the United Stats, and its wholly owned subsidiary Northwest Airlines have added a surcharge of $5 on domestic flights for the first two checked bags unless fees are prepaid online.

The new surcharges of $5 will apply to tickets bought after July 16, 2009, for travel on or after August 4, 2009, Delta Air Lines said in a press release. The fees, the airline added, will remain the same if paid online instead of at airport check-in desks or at curbsides.

Already, Delta Air Lines and Northwest Airlines charge a fee of $15 for the first checked bag and $25 for the second bag.

Continental Airlines, headquartered in Houston, Texas, the United States, will charge passengers a luggage fee of $5 at the airport and not when pre-paid online.
The additional fees, Continental Airlines says in a statement, will be charged for travel starting August 19, 2009.

Continental Airlines will now charge $20 for the first checked baggage and $30 for the second checked bag.

According to Continental Airlines, passengers checking in and pre-paying for bags at its website continental.com will continue to pay $15 for the first checked bag and $25 for the second checked bag.

Delta Air Lines’ fee for a second checked bag for domestic flights now goes up from $25 to $50. The fee for objects which need special handling – like surfboards and skis – also will go up on both domestic as well as international flights.

Delta argued that it was hiking the baggage fees in order to bring in revenues to offset the higher cost of aviation turbine fuel.

However, while international passengers on Delta Air Lines are still allowed to check two bags without fees, the First Class, BusinessElite and Medallion passengers can carry up to three bags free of charge.

For those Delta Air Lines passengers who do not have elite status, checking a third bag on a domestic flight will cost $125 – up by $45 from the earlier charge of $80.
US Airways and United Airlines, two other major airlines based in the United States, had earlier raised fees for checking baggage at the airport.