Effective May 5th, US Airways will charge a $25 service fee for checking a second bag. The fee is waived for qualifying frequent fliers and those who booked prior to today.
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US Airways becomes the second legacy carrier to implement such a fee. United introduced such a fee on February 4th, referring to it as a “new simplified policy.” Second bag, $25, each additional bag, $100. Their revision will also take place effective May 5th.
They will not be alone, we predict. This has been coming for a long time. In Europe, it is essentially already there. Discouraging people from carrying more than they need is not a bad idea. We’ve said before that most people can get by with one bag of less than fifty pounds per person.
And we’d rather they lower the free baggage allowance than raise the fare. Of course, they’ll probably do that too.
