Baggage Fees | featured news

With three antsy kids in the back, a husband resistant to bathroom breaks, and spotty cellphone coverage along the route, it's easy to think flying would be easier. If it weren't for that pesky TSA, the checked baggage fee, and having to pay for five airplane tickets, flying would be a no-brainer.

U.S. airlines collected $3.4 billion in bag fees last year. The 24 percent increase from 2009 shows how the airlines are increasingly reliant on charging for once-free services to make money....

Delta Air Lines says it's sorry "for any miscommunication" after U.S. Army soldiers returning from Afghanistan complained that they were charged almost $3,000 in bag fees by the carrier.

U.S. Airways Group Inc. is raising the fee to check heavy luggage on its domestic flights to an extra $90 each.

Lots of people fume over airline fees, but one group of travelers became so enraged over having to pay extra charges that they were kicked off a plane over the weekend.

U.S. airlines collected $2.56 billion in baggage fees during the first nine months of the year. With industry experts expecting slower economic growth and rising oil prices in 2011, those ancillary fees aren't going anywhere.

Lots of fliers hate paying for checked bags, but one air traveler was so frustrated by the fee and a lost bag that she's taking an airline to court.

Airlines make billions of dollars in fees for check-on luggage, refreshments and other services formerly included in ticket prices, but consumers have a hard time figuring out how much they'll pay in total to fly, a congressional committee heard Wednesday.

United Airlines put a new twist on baggage fees Monday, introducing a sort of all-you-can-carry fee for luggage.

Up until now, airline workers routinely waved passengers with too much luggage through, hoping to avoid a confrontation. Now that baggage fees are generating serious money, however, the carriers are less likely to let the surplus bags slide.