In case you needed yet another incentive to cram all your travel items into a carry-on, Delta Airlines just boosted the cost of your first checked bag by 17%. The increase adds $5 to the previous, and not-exactly-insignificant, $30 fee for domestic flights.
Delta is the third major U.S. carrier to hike bag fees in the past several weeks. Its move follows similar increases that American Airlines and United Airlines announced in February, three days apart; those high fees themselves followed fee hikes by smaller carriers Alaska Airlines and JetBlue Airways. Major U.S. carriers often copy one another’s pricing changes, a move that behavior analysts sometimes refer to as herd instinct.
Delta said Tuesday that the first bag checked on a domestic flight will now incur a $35 fee. The charge for a second bag rose from $40 to $45.
Delta last raised bag fees for domestic flights in 2018. The airline said the increase will help it keep up with unspecified rising industry costs. Customers with status perks can still check their first bag for free; those with first class tickets can check two free bags.
Bag fees have become a dependable source of revenue for airlines since American introduced them in 2008, when jet fuel prices were surging. In 2022, the last full year for which statistics are available, U.S. airlines took in $6.8 billion in checked-bag fees, led by American at $1.4 billion and United at $1.1 billion. Delta was in third place with $979.4 million.
Are Gen Z and Millennials done with alcohol? Bacardi's Tony Latham breaks down trends, new preferences, and insights from the 2025 Cocktail Trends Report.
Comscore’s Paul Dergarabedian breaks down the battle of summer blockbusters, from Superman to Jurassic World and Fantastic Four and what it means for studios.
VENU CEO JW Roth breaks ground on a 20,000-seat, state-of-the-art amphitheater in Texas—part of a $300M public-private expansion to redefine live music.
Despite healthcare spending cuts, medtech stocks like Edwards Life Sciences, Stryker, and Boston Scientific are rising, especially those serving older pati
The original Birkin bag created by Hermès for Jane Birkin in 1984 is up for auction in Paris. Sotheby’s expects the iconic bag to sell for hundreds of thousands of euros on Thursday.
Elon Musk’s artificial intelligence company is taking down antisemitic comments and other “inappropriate posts” made by its Grok chatbot, including some praising Adolf Hitler.
Joby CPO Eric Allison discusses the UAE’s historic EVTOL take off, marking Dubai as the launchpad for global air taxi adoption and Joby’s commercial readiness.
CFRA’s Angelo Zino joins us to unpack Meta’s Superintelligence Labs and what it means for the future of AI, innovation, and the company’s bold new direction.
