Cost-Conscious Air Travelers Saddled With Extra Baggage

After spending a week with his family in Florida, David Stempler's luggage became a weighty issue. With his wife and children in tow, their bulging suitcases tipped the scales at more than 50 pounds apiece, which would have cost an extra $100 in heavy-luggage surcharges to put on the plane.

Indeed, as the major carriers continue to struggle, losing nearly $16 billion over the last two years, they've turned to a wide array of fees, surcharges and initiatives to help boost slumping revenue. This week, Delta Air Lines(DAL) became the latest to add a fee, charging customers $25 if their bag is over 50 pounds and $80 for bags over 70 pounds. Delta refuses to check any bags over 100 pounds.

"The 50-pound limit is really going to scare some people," said Stempler, a consumer travel advocate and president of the Air Travelers Association. "Especially with wheeled bags, you don't need to lift your bag much and can stuff even more things in it. I found myself with three bags that were over the limit and we had to move stuff around. Eventually, we had to buy a fourth suitcase."

The baggage fees and restrictions drive home exactly how hard airline carriers are working to wring every last dime from travelers, since they've been unable to raise ticket prices. A year ago, you could have bought three 60-pound bags onto Delta for nothing. Today, it would cost you $115 -- $75 for the three overweight bags, plus a $40 fee to bring on a fourth bag.

But even consumer advocates understand that carriers need to find some way to boost revenue because they've been unable to hike ticket prices since the Sept. 11, 2001, attack. In fact, pressure from low-fare competitors like Southwest(LUV) has kept ticket prices low for the last quarter-century. According to the Air Transport Association, a 1,000-mile domestic flight on a major airline increased just $6 between January 1980 and the end of 2002 -- without adjusting for inflation.