News
Bag-fee revenue falling at U.S. airlines
May 6, 2014, Fort Worth, Tx. - Airlines are taking in less money from bag fees than they did two years ago, but they are making up for it by adding charges for a slew of extras, including getting a decent seat.
May 6, 2014 By The Associated Press
The government reported Monday that U.S. airlines raised $3.35
billion from bag fees in 2013, down 4 per cent from 2012. That is the
biggest decline since fees to check a bag or two took off in 2008.
Some passengers avoid bag fees — usually $25 to $35 for
domestic flights on the biggest airlines — by using airline credit cards
or earning elite-level frequent-flier status. Others carry their bag on
board and fight for space in the overhead bins.
The bag-fee figure was part of information
released by the U.S. Department of Transportation, which said that
airlines earned $7.3 billion in the fourth quarter of last year,
reversing a loss of $188 million in the same period of 2012.
The airlines also raised $2.81 billion last year
from fees for changing a reservation or ticket, a 10 per cent increase
over 2012. Fees on checked bags, reservation changes and other services
have become a larger share of airline revenue and a big reason why the
carriers are making money.
Airline revenue from bag fees —
much of it for large or overweight bags — was modest during most of the
last decade. In 2008, financially strapped American Airlines expanded
the fees to checking a regular bag or two, and other carriers soon
matched the move. That year, the industry's revenue from bag fees more
than doubled, then doubled again the next year, and rose again in 2010.
After a 1 per cent decline in 2011, bag-fee
revenue peaked at $3.49 billion in 2012 before falling last year. The
most recent figures include 16 leading airlines that report the
information to the government.
Robert Mann, a former American Airlines
executive and now an aviation consultant, said money from bag fees has
levelled off because the mix of passengers has changed — by the
airlines' design.
"You have more people exempt (from the fee)
because they use the right credit card or they get status in the
airline's loyalty program," he said. "The passenger who gets whacked by
the bag fee is the infrequent flier," and he thinks more of them are
travelling by car, bus or Amtrak to save money.
Mann believes that many airlines are
intentionally making basic economy uncomfortable to pressure customers
to pay extra for a better seat, maybe one with more legroom or
early-boarding privileges.
Delta Air Lines again led the
pack in bag fees, raising $833 million last year. United was next at
$625 million, followed by US Airways at $528 million, and American
Airlines at $506 million. Delta also led in change fees, at $840
million.
Among the seven biggest recipients of bag fees,
only three — US Airways, Spirit Airlines and Allegiant Air — raised more
in 2013 than the year before. Spirit and Allegiant charge for many
extras that other airlines put in the ticket price — including carry-on
bags — but say that this lets them offer lower fares.
As bag-fee revenue levels off, airlines are
already looking for new sources of money. Delta said recently that what
it calls "merchandising" — other fees such as charging extra for
priority boarding, economy seats with more legroom, and upselling to
first-class — grew to $165 million in the first quarter of 2014, a 20
per cent increase in one year.
Delta President Ed Bastian said the airline believes it can boost that figure to $500 million a year in the next three years.
At Dallas-Fort Worth International Airport, some
passengers game the bag-fee system by rolling their bag through
security to the gate, then checking it there, where there is usually no
fee. Others no longer fight back.
Lou Guyton of Mansfield, Texas,
who works for a national animal-protection group and was returning from a
trip to New Mexico, said she always checks her bag — on her last
flight, she checked two.
"I really don't like to go through security,
where you have to take out all your stuff," she said, "and then you have
to try to find overhead bin space."
Jim Weck, a telecommunications company program
manager from Atlanta, thinks it's time for the now-prosperous airline
industry to give passengers a break from all kinds of fees, which took
off when the carriers were losing billions of dollars during a period of
recession and rising fuel prices.
"We helped you in your hour of need; now it's
time to give back," Weck said, sitting next to a baggage carousel at
Dallas-Fort Worth International Airport. "No matter what industry you're
in, people don't like being nickel-and-dimed."
