American, Delta, United increase all checked baggage fees

American Airlines has joined Delta Air Lines and United Airlines to increase the price of a registered luggage from $ 25 to $ 30, thus completing a tripling for the three largest global airlines and presenting the sectoral trend known as "unbundling". .

The price change begins for tickets purchased on Friday, September 21st.

With the announcement on September 20 by American Airlines to increase the first checked baggage charge to $ 30 on the first checked bag and the second checked baggage of $ 35 to $ 40, the carrier based in Fort Worth quickly caught up with its national competitors.

United has announced new prices for its checked baggage fees on August 31. A few weeks later, on September 19th, Delta stated that they would also increase their checked baggage costs. American did not wait until one day to join his competitors.

For all three carriers, the cost of checked baggage increases from $ 25 to $ 30 for first checked baggage and from $ 35 to $ 40 for a second piece of checked baggage.

The American Airlines website says this is the first change in its checked baggage fees since 2010 and they are simply following similar changes made by other airlines.

While Jet Blue unleashed this rush on August 27 with its first initial price increase of $ 30, this trend to add additional costs to passengers in the form of incidental fees is a common practice in the industry. This is what is called unbundling.

Separation is the practice of separating the various costs of services such as baggage control, security screening, seating allocation, meals, use of Wi-Fi and wireless Internet access. early boarding in their own prices. In short, charge a small fee for different travel items. Unbundling began in the late 2000s, when airlines recognized the need to generate additional revenue to counter the rise in the price of crude oil, which had reached $ 132 a barrel in the summer of 2008.

According to Bob Mann, president of RW Mann & Company, an airline analysis firm with more than 40 years of experience in the sector, American Airlines was the first to charge $ 20 for a check.

"Pretty much everyone did that," said Mann. "It was the first big boost to start unbundling."