Delta announced today that it’s doubling the fee for a second checked bag from $25 to $50, effective on new bookings starting July 31st for all travel after August 5th. Got a third, fourth, or fifth bag and a lot of money to burn? Fees for those will rise from $80 per bag to $125 each.
Delta is also raising fees on oversized items and heavy items.
First-class passengers, international travelers and elite members of Delta’s frequent-flier program will still be allowed to check two bags for free. First-class and elite travelers can check up to three bags at no charge on international flights; a third bag will now cost a coach-class passenger traveling overseas an extra $150.
Items that are 62 to 80 inches long, including athletic equipment like surfboards and skis, will cost $175 to check after Tuesday on all flights. They now cost $150.
Delta is also increasing its charges for heavy baggage, regardless of whether it is included in a free baggage allowance. A bag that weighs 51 to 70 pounds will cost the traveler $90 to check in the United States, and $150 on an international trip, up from $80.
A bag weighing from 71 to 100 pounds will cost as much as $300 to check on an international trip, compared with $150.
Although a before-and-after chart of the new fees is supposed to be available at http://www.delta.com, as of July 29th we couldn’t find it (if you do, please post the link in the comments below).
“Delta Raises Fee for a Second Bag “ [New York Times] (Thanks to Ken and Mary!)
(Photo: Getty)
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@MoCo: Definitely not – they’ll say “You’re lucky we’re not charging for your body weight!” See “Derrie Air” =D
@BMRFILE: Some of us have to travel for our jobs, not because we want to. And yes, when you’re working out of town for more than a week, you tend to carry more than 1 bag.
Delta: Congrats, you’re officially off my company’s travel list. Permanently. I could care less if you come up with $30 fares w/no surcharges in the future. If you’ve forgotten that your passengers are your customers, you’ve lost this customer for life.
The question is: when gas goes back down to $2.50/gallon or lower (for us, and a similar amount for jet fuel), will they continue with these customer-raping practices? My guess is yes.
So, is there now some kind of luggage-delivery guarantee? For these prices, I’d expect my luggage to show up and ON TIME.
@FLConsumer: And you’re going to use…. which airline (assuming you still have to fly)??? If southwest doesn’t fly where you need to go what is your better option? US with it’s first checked bag fee, $2 cups of soda, no in-flight entertainment, and disgustingly old planes?? Hmmm At least DL still does not charge for the first bag. There are still MANY more people that only check one bag than two, so DL is still better than most of other big-sixes, and B6, so yeah.
Fortunately I work in NYC, live primarily in Florida, so JetBlue (B6) it is for me. Having friends who work for B6 & TSA makes the whole trip much sweeter, almost like pre-9/11 flying. Unlimited sodas, snacks, and entertainment on-board, no security hassles at most of the airports.
As an aside, I got to see the interior of the new T5 @ JFK last week, looks like it’ll be on-time for their September opening. Hell, with the exception of the shops & restaurants it looked like you could almost open it now. The new T5 is nothing compared to the SE Asia airports, but still a huge improvement for JFK. Now if we could just get the ATC out of the 1950′s (read: fix the eternal delays) at JFK, we’d have something. With T6 closing, I believe that leaves Delta with the oldest, rattiest terminal still going at JFK.
@FLConsumer: That’s good for you. I used to live outside NYC and with B6 going to all 4 area airports (well 5 actually) it was always great. Just the T6 terminal at JFK is the BIGGEST shi**hole anywhere. Ugh what a disgusting place. But it’s great to hear that T5 is almost open! That will be a GIANT improvement over shuttle buses and trailers for gates.
As for the ATC issues, we all know what’s been going on, but if the airlines don’t schedule 5 flights to take-off at the SAME TIME we’d be in a much better situation without any infrastructure improvements. And remember, B6 is JFK’s worst offender in this respect (they have the most daily movements). B6 is still the best (with DL my only choice here in PHL; screw US they can go into Ch 7 right now for all I care).
@Corporate-Shill: @yasth: Shipping Rates for 2000 lbs (1 ton), NMFC Class 92.5, commercial dock to commercial dock with no accessorials services required, high volume shipper’s tarriff, from Dallas to Chicago: $525.
Just thought you might want to have some real numbers.
thanks for bringing real information into the topic. Seems like most of the time, people here just like to guess about everything they have no experience with, and then pass blame/bitterness around without a shred of knowledge.
@SMSDHubbard: @kepler11: And once again you’re on the boards defending every policy by the airlines. It’s enough to make one think that you have an interest in them!
I really don’t care who you think I am. I don’t particularly defend the airlines — I just state facts and why things are the way they are, and you take them to be anti-consumer. I’m the one actually adding useful information for people to use and read, both from passenger and airline perspectives, in my posts, while you do nothing. Who’s worse?
@FLConsumer: Delta: Congrats, you’re officially off my company’s travel list. Permanently. I could care less if you come up with $30 fares w/no surcharges in the future. If you’ve forgotten that your passengers are your customers, you’ve lost this customer for life.
oh please, do we have to have this melodramatic kind of tantrum? What are you going to do when other airlines match? Not travel anywhere? Eat your words? How many times have others had to back down from similar statements? Do you not buy gasoline now because you swore not to pay more than $2 per gallon and boycotted any station that would charge that much? Learn not to overreact like this.
The point I wish people would get, is that you can have two approaches to life. You can 1) sit around angry at fees, surcharges, and things that used to be free but are no longer, or you can 2) understand the reasons/mechanisms for why these fees can be/need to be charged now, and succeed within the system while others stand still. I post the stuff I do because I hope more people can learn why things happen, and use it to their advantage. Sometimes the mouth-breathers here make me not even want to bother.
I’m glad I mostly fly international, where the 2nd checked bag is still free. Not everyone is vacationing- I thought I was but a 2-week vacation ended up in me getting my diploma in said “vacation spot” so don’t be so judgemental (well, that and I’m sometimes treated as “cheaper than FedEx” shipping for stuff- I don’t mind because it’s reciprocal).
@Jubilance22: Thanks for the tip, I’ll look into it
@FLConsumer: I travel primarily for my job, and I travel very often. There’s a way to not kill yourself by lugging around all that stuff. Take the time and take a tally of all the stuff you NEED. I just got done with a two month stint away from home and all I needed was a medium sized suitcase, a backpack, and my laptop bag. No one cares if you don’t have a different shirt each day.
@festivus802:
From the NYT article –
“The increased second-bag fee, and the other fees, will apply to passengers who book tickets on or after Thursday for travel after Tuesday.”
So you are good.
Still trying to see if I can get Airtran to not charge me the second bag fee for my Labor Day trip though — I booked my ticket before the fees were announced, and according to an article here, the Transportation Sec’y said they can’t impose those retroactively. They’re trying though, and I can’t see who if anyone is actually enforcing that.
I guess I can understand the extra fee (fuel prices and all that), but the traveling public (and consumers in general) have been so conditioned to assume that any airline (or any company, for that matter) is going to screw their customers as much as possible to wring the maximum possible number of dollars out of them that we automatically assume the worst, every time. I, however, try to be sympathetic to the airlines (read Patrick Smith’s “Ask the Pilot” column on Salon.com or book of the same name for an airline pilot’s perspective – it’s great).
The sad cumulative effect of all these extra fees and surcharges lately is that most people (at my income level, anyway) are just not going to travel. We’ll stay home and think about what we’re missing out on and be jealous of the people that can afford it (maybe that’s just me). As mentioned by JN2 above, I think they’re just shooting themselves in the foot with things like this. It seems to me that more profits would come from making flying more attractive and accessible to more people, but maybe they’re trying to weed out the “riff-raff.”
@pianos101: T6 was nice in its day. It still would be now if it was maintained and wasn’t as crowded. Not a terrible design overall, just terribly over-capacity compared to what it was designed for. Not sure what’s worse, T6 in its present state or the trailer park annex. At least the air con works in the annex. AGree on the flight scheduling. I’m surprised the airlines haven’t realized that they’re just wasting fuel out there on the taxiways.
@kepler11: I do the only thing I can do — vote with my $/£. For now that means avoiding Delta, which is easily done since B6 is doing it right for now. Go back through the Consumerist archives and you’ll see me BEGGING the airlines to bring back good customer service and just raise their damn prices and stop this hogwash. Deliver what you promise/advertise and the price you advertise. Is that too much to ask?
And no, I wasn’t one of the people protesting gas prices. Demand’s up and speculation on the commodities markets is driving the price to insane levels. It’s not the local stations who are profiting off the increases. I just did all that I could — I cut back my consumption.
@BMRFILE: No matter how I try to get around it, I’m stuck with at least my suitcase and a Pelican case. I could (and have) FedEx’d the Pelican case to hotels and home, but I certainly prefer to have it with me when possible. For shorter trips I usually just pack a carryon and carry as little gear with me as possible.
Do we need any more reasons not to support airline companies?