United Airlines follows American’s lead, charges for first checked bag

The New York Times just reported (like an hour ago - call me lightning fingers!) that tomorrow United Airlines will start charging passengers flying on their cheapest tickets for the first checked bag:

United Airlines said Thursday that it would begin charging many passengers on Friday to check their first bag, joining American Airlines in assessing a $15 luggage fee for passengers flying on the cheapest tickets.

It wasn’t that long ago that American announced the policy on their own airplanes, in an effort to recoup some of the costs of operating an airline in a sluggish economy with skyrocketing fuel prices.

While I certainly understand the sentiment (”we’re screwed! our costs are going through the roof and our revenue is not growing!”), there’s only so much to be accomplished by introducing “gotcha” fees to travelers.

The only way that’s going to work as a long term strategy is if the budget airlines follow suit, and I think companies like Southwest are savvy enough not only to avoid the $15 surcharge, but to use it as good fodder for advertising.