There’s nothing more American than the big three airlines in the US being United in their belief that there shouldn’t be much of a Delta in how much you’re charged for checking bags on flights with them.
Sure enough, where one went another followed and we’ve learned today that the last remaining holdout didn’t hold out for long.
As expected, Delta announced quietly updated their website to show that you’ll now pay more when checking a bag or two with them.
Their checked baggage fees used to be $30 for your first checked bag and $40 for a second checked bag.
They’ve now updated that page to display the increased pricing – $35 for your first checked bag and $45 for your second. That’s an increase of $5 for each one, or a 16.67% increase for your first bag and a 12.5% increase for your second checked bag.
That’s obviously a disappointing development, but not at all surprising given the recent increases in fees by American and United. Where Delta’s somewhat differentiated is that these increased fees are the flat fees regardless of when you pay for the bags, rather than getting a discount for paying online beforehand (or a surcharge for paying in person at the airport).
It’s still possible to get a free checked bag on domestic flights if you have an Amex Delta Gold, Platinum or Reserve card, if you have Delta SkyMiles status or if you’re active military.
What this does mean is that Southwest will become even more appealing for people who need to travel with a couple of checked bags. The roundtrip cost for someone traveling solo with two checked bags on Delta will now be $160. That’s a substantial amount of money, so if Southwest fares are somewhat comparable, some will presumably prefer to get two free checked bags with them even if it does mean dealing with things like no seat assignment.
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Is their cobrand credit card agreement worth this much?? They just made it more likely that I’ll keep my overpriced platinum Skymiles card…
These baggage fees are getting out of hand. I invested in a good cabin bag, decent packing cubes and a Stuffa Jacket (www.stuffa.us) so that i never pay a bag fee again.
As far as I can tell the Delta Amex bag fee waiver applies to all Delta flights, not just domestic ones.
Domestic first, tier status, cobranded credit card.
…not sure what you’re trying to say?
Answering the question “Is it still possible . . . “
ah, nobody asked that question. I quoted Stephen’s article saying “it’s still possible…” and pointed out that although he only mentioned domestic flights for the credit card bag fee waiver, it actually applies to all flights
Where are all the corporate greed comments?
Well, according to NPR, Delta made almost 1 BILLION dollars last year on checked bag fees. That’s pretty greedy considering that until relatively recently (in the history of commercial flight) bags were free.
If any company is making profits that are extraordinary relative to the industry or the market as a whole, buy its shares.
and what was the cost to haul all the bags?
small potatoes compared to outright deceit that harms you or people you know directly / indirectly. looking at pHARMa. Pfizer, AstraZeneca, Merck, Sanofi….and complicit with doctors & well regarded high-ranked universities. American Heart Ass’n – also fraudulent. Then there’s tech firms…but that’s another story.
So in the whole scheme of things…airlines are the best. Cramped economy notwithstanding.
I’d gladly pay 5x the baggage fees for all my flights — hell 10x…if it meant the destruction/total exposure of those aforementioned firms – which cost all of us a heck of a lot more.
well..no worries…the Reckoning is coming soon.not many years left.