Well if you are heading to the airport any time soon be prepared to pay a little more for the bags that you packed for your trip as two of Canada’s major airlines, Air Canada and WestJet follow suit with their U.S. counter part, JetBlue Airways Corp and increased checked luggage fees.
According to both websites for Air Canada and WestJet, for most economy fares flights they have increased the first checked item fees from $25.00 to $30.00 and increased fees from $30.00 to $50.00 for the 2nd checked bag or item. The two airlines say the fee hikes will help offset rising operational costs, so fares can remain competitive.
Well some may say what is the issue with a $5 increase or are simply using a carry-on bag to avoid the luggage fee. Well, it is not just $5, if you have more than one checked item then these increased fees add can add up to $50.00 for your checked bags on a round trip flight.
As for the Carry-on Bag movement well, you might not be safe either as some foreign airlines have now started charging for carry-on bags saying that it is in efforts to reduce boarding delays and improve the customer’s experience when flying.
That being said, now that Air Canada and WestJet have hiked their checked bag fees following the lead of others in the industry, some airline experts predict charges for carry-on luggage in the not to distant future.
With the airline industry already struggling with this to deal with a significant increase of carry-on luggage, more passengers start stuffing as much as possible into their carry-on bags, increased fees will only add to the existing delays problems cause by passengers trying to jam their items in overhead space bins.
Some carriers have already initiated carry-on bag fees to help combat the problem and increase profits and there is little doubt that the entire industry will adopt this practice soon.
By Calli Gregg