JetBlue Raises Bag Fees Again—One Checked Bag Can Cost $140 Roundtrip, Other Airlines Likely To Follow

JetBlue has raised checked bag fees again. Your first bag now costs at least $50 each way on domestic flights, and as much as $70 if you pay within 24 hours of departure on a peak travel date. That’s $140 roundtrip for one bag. They already raised bag fees earlier this year. And JetBlue has repeatedly gone first with these increases, then other airlines follow. So even if you don’t fly JetBlue, their tests of how much more passengers will pay can wind up costing you. A First Bag Starts At $50. A Second Reaches $85. The new pricing applies to bookings made November 3 onward. Here’s the new domestic schedule, per bag, each way: Checked bag Paid more than 24 hours ahead Paid within 24 hours First bag, off-peak $50 $60 First bag, peak $55 $70 Second bag, off-peak $70 $75 Second bag, peak $75 $85 Peak pricing is November 19–30, December 17–January 18, and May 20–September 8 next summer. A family of four checking one bag each, without a waiver, pays $440 roundtrip on peak dates even when they pay early. Wait until check-in and it’s $560. On transatlantic Main Base and EvenMore Base fares, the first bag is $80 off-peak or $90 peak when prepaid, rising to $90 or $100 within 24 hours. Standard Main and EvenMore transatlantic fares still include a first bag. Mosaic 1 elite status includes one checked bag and Mosaic 2–4 include two. JetBlue Plus and Premier cardholders have a first checked bag benefit. Those exemptions become a pitch for their credit card since things are worse for everyone else. And while they give you a discount for paying in advance, bag fees are refundable only when the entire booking is canceled before departure. If you pay for an extra bag you don’t wind up checking, you’re out of luck. By putting fear of high prices in passengers, they may generate revenue for services the customer winds up not ever needing and using. JetBlue Keeps Leading The Industry Toward Higher Bag Fees When I covered JetBlue’s increase in March, their cheapest first bag went from $35 to $39. The peak advance price rose to $49. Today’s $50 minimum is 28% higher than that March minimum, and 43% higher than the $35 price before it. In 2018, JetBlue led the move to a $30 first checked bag. United followed that same week. In January 2020, JetBlue went to $35 unless you prepaid. United announced its matching move the next month. In 2024, JetBlue added peak and off-peak baggage pricing, after already raising fees earlier that year. This spring, JetBlue raised fees in late March. United announced another increase days later. JetBlue isn’t the consumer-first airline anymore. When they introduced bag fees in 2015, the first bag was $20 online or at a kiosk, $25 at the counter. They defended their direction by pointing to how much worse other airlines were, declaring: The world is going in a very dramatic direction toward more and more commoditization. That’s not where we’re going. Now they’re leading in the race to the bottom. The Government Encourages This JetBlue tied the spring increase to rising operating costs. But an airline’s bag fee isn’t derived from the fuel needed to carry the bag. Fares and fees are set according to what airlines think customers will pay, subject to competition. Higher bag fees let JetBlue raise the cost of a trip while leaving the advertised airfare alone. They also make it harder to compare the total price across airlines. And the government rewards them for doing it. Domestic air transportation is generally subject to a 7.5% federal excise tax. Separate baggage fees are excluded from that tax. Every dollar an airline moves out of fares and into fees saves them 7.5 cents, even if the total price remains the same. I’ve made this point through previous rounds of JetBlue increases: anyone serious about pushing back on bag fees should start with the tax preference that encourages airlines to move money out of fares and into baggage charges. (HT: Enilria) Topics on this page