When exploring the plush areas of the Pacific Northwest, Alaska Airways may be the quickest and most effective solution to get there. Nonetheless, the subsequent time you are reserving a enjoyable weekend getaway to Seattle, Spokane, Bozeman, or the sandy seashores alongside the Oregon coast, you might wish to rethink your packing technique. Over the weekend, Alaska quietly up to date its baggage coverage web page to mirror the corporate’s new—and pricier—checked baggage charges, which can go into impact within the new yr.
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At the moment, Alaska passengers pay $30 for his or her first checked bag. However come Jan. 2, 2024, vacationers might be charged $35 for his or her first piece of checked baggage. The price of a second checked bag will even improve by $5, going from $40 to $45.
The charges for extra checked baggage, in addition to outsized/obese baggage, will stay the identical. Moreover, first-class ticket holders and Alaska Airways Visa bank card and Alaska Airways Visa Enterprise card customers will nonetheless get free checked baggage. When you have MVP, MVP Gold, or MVP Gold 75K or 100K standing, you will additionally get to test your baggage without charge.
A spokesperson for the Seattle-based airline confirmed the price improve in an e-mail to Thrifty Traveler: “As we navigate rising working prices—together with excessive gas costs—we often want to regulate our price construction to take care of a excessive degree of excellence within the service we offer.”
For a lot of flyers, nevertheless, the worth improve is not something new. In 2020, JetBlue raised its checked baggage charges to $35 and $45, respectively, for first and second baggage—however the latter is now $60, per the airline’s web site. Earlier this yr, American Airways started charging all primary economic system ticket holders on a transoceanic flight $75 for his or her first checked bag; it was beforehand free.
Nonetheless, in comparison with different main U.S. airways reminiscent of Southwest and Delta, who nonetheless cost $30 to your first commonplace checked bag, the worth hike is stunning. In truth, specialists warn that Alaska’s new baggage charges could ruffle some feathers and encourage different airways to do the identical.
“I might not be shocked to see different carriers increase their baggage charges in due time,” Tim Jue, a San Francisco-based aviation and journey reporter, advised The Factors Man. “The airline trade likes to behave in unison, and if there’s a possibility to extend income someplace, it is a sure-fire wager airways will capitalize on it. All it takes is one provider to take that leap of religion and everybody else normally piles on instantly afterwards.”
Jue added that he would not be shocked to see an uptick in baggage charges throughout most main airways “within the coming days or even weeks.”
“The price of doing enterprise for many airways goes up, and we will begin seeing carriers look to extract more cash out of their prospects,” Jue warned. “I feel baggage charges are simply the beginning of that effort, and I would anticipate different carriers to quietly increase their checked bag charges within the coming days or even weeks.”
Brian Sumers, an air journey knowledgeable and author on the Airline Observer publication, argues that elevating baggage charges may incentivize passengers to open a brand new bank card that comes with free checked baggage as a bonus perk.
“In elevating their baggage charges, airways could also be making an attempt to seize money from customers within the type of charges. However simply as possible, they’re making an attempt to coax some vacationers into getting a brand new bank card, which—you guessed it—comes with ‘free’ checked baggage. As bag charges climb up, a bank card turns into a extra engaging deal,” Sumers defined to The Factors Man.
