<p>D flew home from Boston on Saturday and checked 3 bags on American Airlines. Imagine our surprise when we checked her credit card online and discovered she had been charged $150 dollars for the 3 bags! Apparently the fees are $20 for the first bag, $30 for the second and $100 for the third. Had anybody explained this to her or had the fees been posted, she would have opted to carry one bag on. Obviously she should have asked, but I don’t think it occurred to her (or us) that the charges would be so high.</p>
<p>My sister is flying to Hawaii on Sunday but stopping in California for two days on the way there and back. Family of five will have to pay $500 dollars to check one bag each there and back. That just seems excessive to me. This is on Northwest.</p>
<p>Some airlines are charging extra if you pay those fees at the terminal as well–best to check in ahead of time and pay the fees online.</p>
<p>AirTran charges baggage fees and you aren’t told up front. You can avoid the charges if you go business class–which is a higher fare. You should do the math and figure out what’s cheaper, if you are checking baggage. I was flying from Boston to Cleveland (actually Akron) when I learned about the baggage charge; the next time I traveled to the area, I took Southwest, even though it wasn’t a direct flight (had to go through BWI)–SWA doesn’t charge for checking baggage.</p>
<p>Lots of folks are trying to do carry on, only to have their bags taken at boarding ( not enough space in the overhead compartments). Folks seem used to it now. It appears you don’t have to pay to check them if they take them from you at the gate.</p>
<p>One more reason to fly Southwest!!</p>
<p>^^^Shrinkwrap, the problem with that is the bags may not end up on your flight. I suppose if you do not need the bag immediately it isn’t too bad. If you do need access to your luggage right away, you might regret not checking it in advance!</p>
<p>^^ It certainly is a part of their current ad camping. I wonder how they do it.</p>
<p>^Wow, that WOULD be a problem. In a different situation my bags went on a different flight and it was quite a problem getting back to the airport when they got there. Personally I HATE big carry ons, and don’t have warm feelings towards passengers who take too much time and space with them. But I empathize with regard to why it happens.</p>
<p>When flying home for thanksgiving (Cleveland to Newark, Continental), I checked one bag- I ended up paying $65 or something ridiculous- $15 for the bag fee, and $50 because it was 10lbs too heavy (I already had a backpack and duffel that I was carrying on, no way could I carry another 10lbs). Watch out for that- it’s often cheaper to just check another bag.</p>
<p>^Absolutely. We always weigh before we leave home. At thanksgiving we ended up having a relative ship a box of our clothes home. “Only” cost $35… but it hasn’t arrived yet…</p>
<p>Thanks for the reminder. Just sent D a reminder to pack light and consider leaving her computer behind (we have enough here she can use.) I’m especially worried about her violin…</p>
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<p>Amen to that! You can check up to two bags free. Add that into your equation when figuring out who has the cheapest fares.</p>
<p>Unfortunately, D2 is flying home Sunday from London where she’s been for the entire semester. When she flew over there, she had an added charge for one of her suitcases being over the weight limit. I know she’s purchased some things while there, so I told her to mail some stuff back as it will be less than paying the surcharge. Am just grateful she’s not flying BA!</p>
<p>son flew home on Horizon. $15 to check the snowboard bag. He carried on a small suitcase and his backpack.</p>
<p>I do not check baggage. I figure if it can’t fit in my carryon…I can buy it at my destination. There are stores everywhere.</p>
<p>3bm103- how did you get $500? I am just curious as I thought it was $15 one way for the first piece of luggage.</p>
<p>DD wore layers of clothes to EU after packing and weighing her bags meticulously. The shipping is also quite pricey :(</p>
<p>We purchased an electronic scale. One interisland carrier WEIGHS your carry-ons and limits it to 25 pounds, no exception. We had to juggle items at the ticket counter for a flight and it was VERY inconvenient. We were checking two bags & carrying on 3 (with 3 passengers). ALL of the bags were 30 pounds apiece, so we had to shuffle everything so the carry-ons were 25 pounds and put the extra weight into the two checked pieces. </p>
<p>I was very concerned that we might lose things at the ticket counter and found it very offputting that the airlines was absolutely inflexible.</p>
<p>So far, we’ve been very fortunate that both our kids travel light and carry on all their luggage.</p>
<p>I just got upgraded on American for all the flights I took last year & will be able to fly without luggage fees for the 1st 2 bags for me & any companion(s) for the next year or so. Don’t know how much I’ll be flying for the next year or so, but it might be handy to help S move after he graduates in May.</p>
<p>If you are a MVP on Alaska, you and your companions traveling on the same itinerary are allowed to check 2 bags per person for free. It takes only 4 RT for DD/year to get to the MVP status. And for us, it only takes a couple of trips to HIMom’s isalnd and a couple of trips to visit DD :)</p>
<p>Some European airlines consider your coat a “personal item”, like a laptop or a purse!</p>
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I think they believe the fee is $25 per bag for each leg of the trip. I guess I’m going to have to look into this.</p>
<p>5 people, checking one bag each @ $25/bag/trip = $25 origin to CA (where poster said they stopped), $25 CA to HI, $25 HI to CA (where they stopped again) & $25 CA to home = $100/person for one bag. For 5 people that is $500.</p>
<p>It sure can add up. One strategy is to have fewer checked bags–put liquids & things that can’t be carried on the plane all in the checked luggage & have most of the passengers just carry their luggage on the plane. That’s what I’ve done to minimize these luggage fees.</p>