Airline bag fees remain after oil price drop

ATLANTA — When airlines started charging some passengers $15 or more earlier this year to check their bags, they blamed soaring fuel costs. Since then, the oil price has plummeted. Yet the industry hasn’t stowed away the bag fees.

Many of us still are paying to fly with a suitcase that doesn’t squeeze into the overhead bin or under the seat.

The reason is simple: Airlines still are losing money, though now largely because of the ecomomic recession instead of oil prices.

And don’t expect the fee to disappear even when the economy rebounds. Airlines are finding the fees to be a reliable source of revenue and say that such charges allow passengers to choose only the services they want.

Passengers, meanwhile, are paying up and grumbling. Many are being socked, on average, $15 for the first bag and $25 for the second.

"I think it’s unfair, and I think it’s highway robbery,” said Benjamin Johnson, 38, a government employee, as he headed from Atlanta to Orlando, Fla.

For the airlines, the bag fees, on top of charges for other once-free amenities, add up to much-needed revenue. The industry is expected to lose $4 billion for 2008, excluding one-time items, despite the plunge in the price of a barrel of oil from $147 in July to about $40 this week, said Calyon Securities airline analyst Ray Neidl.

Airlines say they are being hurt by the recession, which has caused demand for seats to drop. The International Air Transport Association said global passenger traffic declined 1.

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