Travelers paid US airlines almost a billion dollars in the last quarter to carry their suitcases.
According to data gathered by the Department of Transportation released on Monday, 27 US airlines brought in $960 million from baggage fees last quarter – nearly 9% higher than the same period last year.
Baggage fees account for only a small percent of the revenue for airlines. In the same period ticket fares for the 27 airlines brought in $34 billion. In total they have received $2.7 billion in baggage fee revenue so far this year.
More US airlines adding baggage fees
In the past air travelers could safely assume that they had completely paid for their air travel after once they bought their plane tickets, however, this is no longer the case, as many airlines are now requiring travelers to pay to check bags.
More airlines across the US are now charging consumers extra fees for baggage than ever before.
Is it really cutting costs?
Despite the increase in revenue from baggage fees, it doesn’t look like it’s going to help reduce the high costs that airlines face.
The cost for fuel in the last quarter was $11 billion and labor fees added up to $10 billion.
JetBlue announced it would be charging baggage fees last month
Last month JetBlue said that it would be cutting legroom and charging baggage fees as it faced increasing pressure from investors to cut costs. The company believes that these measure will boost profits by $400 million a year.
However, this airline used to attract people because of the comfort it offered, as well as the fact that there weren’t a ton of extra charges attached to the fare price.
Some analysts have questioned whether cutting legroom and charging extra fees is going to negatively affect its image and marketing advantage.