Yesterday we told you that American Airlines decided to spring another fee hike for checked baggage on travelers.
Well, airlines tend to raise fees in packs. JetBlue has also surprised customers this month by slamming them with the carrier’s own inflation of bag fees.
On JetBlue, it now costs $45 to check one bag and another $60 to check a second one if you’re flying within the U.S., Latin America, and the Caribbean.
Before the change, it cost $35 for the first bag and $60 for the second one.
That’s a nearly 30% price increase to check a bag.
According to JetBlue’s updated website, the only way to get out of the new $45 price and pay the $35 rate is to plan ahead and pay for your bags at least 24 hours ahead of departure.
Before this bump in the surcharge, the advance-payment rate for a single checked bag on JetBlue was $30. When that price was announced at the start of 2020 (JetBlue’s second increase in 2 years), Frommer’s pointed out that the fee marked a new high for the airline industry.
We’re old enough to remember the year 2000, when JetBlue first entered the market. Back then, the airline bragged that it didn’t charge bag fees at all.
But like so many self-styled disruptors in commerce—Lyft, Uber, Airbnb, and Amazon Prime Video come to mind—once JetBlue had established itself, the company dispensed with the freebies and customer service promises and began bleeding consumers for all they could.
This time, JetBlue didn’t even bother to announce the fee hike by press release or social media. The company just quietly stuck it to us.
JetBlue’s revised baggage fees can be found on the page about checked baggage on the airline’s official website. Better bookmark the page and check it daily—who knows when JetBlue will next inflate fees without notice.
Alaska Airlines also hiked baggage fees, raising the charge to $30 for the first checked bag and $40 for the second starting in January. Though high, those prices feel almost refreshing compared to the newly announced $40 on American and $45 on JetBlue.
