Airline checked bag, reservation change fees just hit a record

By Ben Geier
Old airplanes are stored in the desert in Victorville
Old airplanes, including British Airways and China Airlines Boeing 747-400s and FedEx planes, are stored in the desert in Victorville, California, March 13, 2015. Last year, there were zero orders placed by commercial airlines for new Boeing 747s or Airbus A380s, reflecting a fundamental shift in the industry toward smaller, twin-engine planes. Smaller planes cost less to fly than the stately, four-engine jumbos, which can carry as many as 525 passengers. Picture taken March 13, 2015. To match Insight AEROSPACE-JUMBO/ REUTERS/Lucy Nicholson - RTR4XJ6O
Photograph by Lucy Nicholson — Reuters

The U.S. passenger aviation industry set new records in the first quarter of 2015 for checked bag and reservation change fees, according to the Associated Press.

Airlines made $1.6 billion from those fees, the highest amount for a first quarter since bag fees were introduced in 2008.

Part of the reason for the climb is simply that more people are flying, with 3.2% more seats filled year-over-year, according to the report. Airlines are putting the fees on more passengers, though, and fees are getting higher — the AP notes that some fees can reach a whopping $200.

Over the past 12 months, the airline industry has pulled in $3.6 billion in checked bag fees and $3 billion is reservation change fees, the AP said.