American Airlines lowers free-bag limit for international flights

Well, that didn’t take long. Less than a month after British Airways announced it would limit economy-class fliers to one free checked bag, instead of two, on transatlantic flights, American Airlines said, “Me too,”  with a few tweaks. And it did BA one better: American’s tougher policy will take effect Sept. 14, three weeks before BA’s will.

What about other airlines?  From their websites, it looks as if Air New Zealand and United Airlines still allow those in the cheap seats to check two free bags across the pond.  Delta Air Lines lowered the limit earlier this year.  For travel starting on or after Sept. 23, Virgin Atlantic will lower weight limits from 70 pounds to 50 pounds per checked bag in first class but will still allow two bags per international coach passenger, said spokeswoman Emily Andariese.

Some details on American’s new bag policy, announced Friday, Aug. 21:

>It will take effect for tickets bought on or after Sept. 14.

>It will apply to economy-class international travelers going to or from the U.S.  and several European countries: Belgium, England, France, Germany, Ireland, Italy, Spain and Switzerland. It will also apply to travel to and from India.

>The first bag will be free; the second bag will cost $50. Customers who buy full-fare tickets in economy class will be exempt from the charge, along with business, first class, very frequent fliers and some other categories.

>The new policy will apply to flights actually operated by American Airlines, as opposed to flights on code-share partners, who have their own policies.

Tim Wagner, American Airlines spokesman, said that although fuel prices have moderated, they’re still “very volatile, and with the state of the world economy, we’re looking at ways to enhance our revenue. ” He declined to say how much the new bag charge would bring in, except to say that American expects it to be “a significant amount.”

Like many airlines, American has seen its traffic volume fall in recent months. Last month, its passenger traffic was down 6.4% compared with July 2008, Wagner said.

—Jane Engle, assistant Los Angeles Times Travel editor

Photo: American Airlines passengers in line at LAX in August 2008. Credit: Robert Lachman/Los Angeles Times

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This entry was posted on Friday, August 21, 2009 at 3:21 pm by Jane Engle and is filed under Airline travel, Asia, Business Travel, Europe, France, Frequent Flier, Germany, Global, Great Britain, India, Luxury Travel, News, Tips & Advice. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a comment, or trackback from your own site.