Two words: Luggage fees.
My brother just took off for a 10-day ski vacation with his wife and son, but yesterday I got a call from him saying it may be the last one they take—-EVER!
Apparently, the amount of money they spent on airline luggage fees was almost as much as a roundtrip ticket. Admittedly, my brother is not the world’s savviest packer, but considering that they planned to rent most of their ski equipment, it was quite a shock that they spent in excess of $150 on luggage fees.
I won’t bore you with the breakdown of their fees, save to say that the last leg of their itinerary on a commuter airline (not affiliated with the commercial airline they were on for the bulk of the trip) charged them double for two bags that weighed exactly the same.
In any event, I thought this would be a good time to review airline baggage rules, especially in regards to how they apply to travelers taking off on ski vacations:
Delta, Continental and United now charge $25 for a first bag and $35 for the second. Other major domestic carriers, including American, AirTran, US Airways, and Frontier charge $15 for the first piece and $35 for the second. Meanwhile, Southwest does not charge for the first or second checked bag. JetBlue allows one free bag per passenger, but charges $30 for the second piece.
Let’s do the math: If you are flying United and have two bags that need to be checked, you are looking at dropping a whopping $120 roundtrip in luggage fees alone.
Fortunately, there are ways to save when flying with ski equipment. Most U.S. airlines have a winter sports equipment rule that treats two pieces of ski gear (e.g. ski bag and boot bag) as only one checked bag. However, the combined items cannot exceed 50 pounds.
Another way to save is to use frequent flier miles to your advantage. Baggage fees are usually waived for passengers who qualify for elite status in a frequent flier program. In addition, just about every airline waives fees for active military and for those traveling in first or business class. There are even some airlines, like Continental, that waive baggage fees for those paying full fare coach (Y Class).
Finally, if you want to avoid baggage fees altogether, consider shipping your ski gear. Depending on how much stuff you are looking to bring with you and how far you are traveling, there is a possibility that you could even save money going this route. If nothing else, at least you avoid the opportunity for the airline to lose your luggage. After all, there is nothing more frustrating than paying $120 for a carrier to lose your bags.
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