baggage fees

The UPS Store has launched a new product, which it calls "luggage boxes," marketed as a product to enable customers to get out of paying airline baggage fees by shipping their possessions ahead of time. The boxes themselves, which look like cardboard suitcases with a handle, cost $12.95 for a...

Add Delta Air Lines to the list of carriers that give special perks to members of its programs. It's not unusual for airlines to allow free checked bags to its elite-level frequent fliers, but Delta is taking it a step further and giving a free first piece of checked luggage to anyone who holds one...

Spirit Airlines has announced that as of August 1, it will be the first domestic airline to charge for carry-on baggage. If you bring anything bigger than what can fit under the seat in front of you, you'll pay as much as $45. The airline's press release about it is, of course, total bunkum. The...

Get out the barbells. It's time to do more lifting to prepare for heftier carry-on bags. That's because airline passengers may be hit with even more expensive baggage fees following a little-noticed recent development. In a victory for cash-strapped airlines still struggling with lagging demand...

Hey, is the recession over or something? Must be, because the airlines have suddenly decided to go crazy, raising our baggage fees again. Continental started it, hiking its domestic rates a jaw-dropping $10, from $15 to $25 for the first bag. The second bag now costs $35, up from $25.

Airline prices may appear to be at a historic low, but that's just a flight of fancy. In fact, the major carriers have just shifted their costs to extra fees, and the ugliest one of all is the one you pay to check luggage. At $20 a bag, a family of four will pay $80 each way, or $160 round-trip. You can save $40 if you reserve space ahead of time, but don't even think about adding a second checked bag, which adds another $60 round-trip, per bag.

As part of Yahoo's year-end do-gooder campaign, it paid baggage fees for travelers at two California airports. The gimmick tied in with Yahoo's mission of easing life's navigation, but if the online media company is wise, it could be the seed for a new and better marketing campaign.

There's a fine piece on AOL travel today by Jordan Simon about the ridiculous fees airlines charge on everything from booking to baggage. Granted, airlines had to do something to correct course after the dip in air travel following 9/11, the soaring cost of jet fuel and all that. But now that...

The authorities that run America's airports don't think you've been nickeled and dimed enough. They're lobbying Congress to hike the "passenger facility charge" from the current $4.50 to $7.50, levied each time you take off from an airport, not per trip. That's a jump of two-thirds. An increase to...

Well, that didn't take long. Seems like only yesterday (almost -- it was July 9) that U.S. Airways started charging $15 for the first checked bag and $25 for the second, plus another $5 if you wait until you're at the airport to check them. On Wednesday, barely 50 days after the last increase, the...