American Airlines Quietly Raises Baggage Fees

Wednesday, 22 Apr 2020

American Airlines Quietly Raises Baggage Fees

American Airlines quietly raised baggage fees for Basic Economy passengers on transatlantic flights. The move follows the recent $25bn bailout package for US airlines.


Baggage fees have been raised from $60 to $75 for a first checked bag. The new fee will apply to new bookings from 21st April onwards and will not affect existing reservations.


The new fees will apply to passengers checking bags between Europe, Israel, Morocco and the USA, Puerto Rico, Canada, Mexico, The Caribbean, Central America and South America.


The airline said the new fees brought their bag fee structure in line with their Atlantic Joint Business partners. Andre Koos, an American Airlines spokesperson said “American is changing its checked baggage fees for Basic Economy passengers on transatlantic flights to better align our bag fee structure with our Atlantic Joint Business partners, British Airways, Iberia, and Finnair”


With IATA predicting that global airline passenger will be down by an expected $314bn in 2020 due to the COVID-19 pandemic, airlines will seek to boost ancillary revenue where possible. United Airlines also recently reported they lost $2.1 billion in the first quarter of 2020.


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