US Airways, Continental Airlines charge $50 for second checked bag on trans-Atlantic routes

US Airways and Continental Airlines, both based in the United States, have added a one-way fee of $50 for a second checked bag on their trans-Atlantic routes. In addition, US Airways raised its fee by $5 to check bags on domestic flights – to $20 for the first piece of baggage and $30 for the second piece.

However, those passengers who pay the checked-baggage fee at the airport instead of paying it online in advance will be charged $25 for the first piece of baggage and $35 for the second piece by US Airways.

US Airways said in a press release that the new fee of $50 for a second checked bag on its trans-Atlantic routes apply to tickets bought for travel on October 7, 2009, or later.

The increase in bag fees, US Airways added, matches the increases being implemented by competitors like American Airlines.

Continental Airlines’ new fee for a second checked bag on flights between the United States and Europe will be applicable to tickets bought for travel on or after

September 15, 2009, the company said in a statement. Those exempted from the fee for the second checked bag include passengers with first-class and business-class tickets; those buying full-fare ecomony-class tickets; as well as serving personnel of the US military.

However, the first checked bag will continue to be free, Continental Airlines added.

For the economy-class passengers, Continental Airlines had recently raised the fee for first checked bag to $20, and for a second bag to $30 on flights within the United States and to Canada, Puerto Rico, and US Virgin Islands.

Continental Airlines, based in Houston, Texas, and US Airways, headquartered in Tempe, Arizona, is the fourth-biggest and the sixth-biggest airlines, respectively, in the United States.

Many major carriers based in the United States have already increased fees for checked baggage in their efforts to earn revenues from sources other than sale of tickets as the demand for air travel is dwindling on account of the global economic slump.

The United States-based Delta Air Lines, the largest airline operator in the world, had added, in July 2009, a fee of $50 for the second checked bag on its flights on the US-Europe routes.

American Airlines raised its fees for the first checked bag and second checked bag on certain route in August 2009, and has announced that similar increases will come into effect for most flights on the European and Indian routes beginning September 14, 2009.

According to the United States Bureau of Transportation Statistics, US-based airlines earned around $566 million in baggage fees in the first 3 months of 2009 – which is up from nearly $123 million in the same a year ago.