The battle for overhead bin space on flights is likely to intensify as United Airlines announced it will increase the checked bag fees starting Friday. It will now cost $10 more to check luggage for passengers traveling on flights in the U.S., Mexico, Canada, and Latin America.
Since the airlines often move in tandem on ancillary fees like checked bags, this could mark the beginning of a trend ahead of the busy summer travel season. Earlier this week, JetBlue Airways raised its prices for checked bags by $4 to $9 per bag, depending on whether passengers are flying during peak or off-peak periods, with the highest fee now coming in at $49.
Airlines are grappling with higher jet fuel prices as the Iran war has resulted in a global surge in oil prices. While carriers have increased ticket prices or added fuel surcharges to some routes, hiking fees for checked bags is another way to squeeze a bit more revenue out of passengers.
HOW UNITED COMPARES TO OTHER CARRIERS
Chicago-based United will continue to offer a $5 discount to passengers who prepay for their checked luggage at least 24 hours prior to departure, which means the bag fee will be $45. But until its competitors follow suit, United’s checked bag fee is now an outlier among the big three carriers.
American Airlines likewise offers a $5 discount for passengers who prepay for checked bags, so its fees are either $35 or $40 depending on whether fliers do so. Delta Air Lines currently charges $35 for the first checked bag. All three carriers charge $10 more for the second checked bag.
More broadly, $35 for a checked bag had become somewhat of an industry norm. That’s the same amount that Alaska Airlines charges for bags and the fee that Southwest Airlines implemented in 2025 after years of being the sole carrier to offer a “bags fly free” policy.
FRUSTRATIONS FOR TRAVELERS
While travelers finally have seen some relief from the hourslong TSA lines that persisted for weeks amid a partial government shutdown, air travel has become a more frustrating experience for a variety of reasons. A sense of being nickel-and-dimed by airlines only adds to such frustrations.
On social media, people were quick to note the irony of the timing of United’s announcement of higher bag fees as it came the same week the airline implemented a major overhaul to its frequent-flier program. Those changes, announced in February, mean that travelers who have a United MileagePlus credit card or debit card accrue more lucrative benefits than non-cardholders—including at least two free checked bags per year or even unlimited checked bags.
Several people on the r/UnitedAirlines subreddit noted that the increase to checked fee bags is likely a move by United to encourage more travelers to opt for one of its cards. As one Redditor commented: “100%, not a coincidence it goes into effect the day after a bunch of benefits to cardholders came into effect.”
While United’s recent moves may frustrate travelers, they haven’t exactly excited investors either. The airline’s stock was already in a slump before the Iran war began in late February, and shares of United have tumbled more than 18% this year.