When did they stop including a checked in bag to the USA?

[Ahmawa]

We usually fly to the USA every year. We didn't fly out last year so were intending to go this year.

Just looked at the tickets online and none come with checked in bags. So when I add them in the price literally doubles.

When did this become normal practice flying to the US.

We have been to the Far East with Emirates and Etihad and always had one bag for checkin.

I think it depends on the airline? And I don’t think adding a bag doubles the flight price 🤔

Not all airlines do this. Always check which does and what the cost of addibg bags is to get true price. That airlines may also charge for food and entertainment too.

I know that Virgin Atlantic introduced tiered pricing for Economy earlier this year and with the cheapest option you have to pay to check in a bag.

We went to New York last week with Air Lingus (flew via Dublin) we didn’t pay extra for our suitcases.

USA west coast with BA flying in 2 months,, booked 2 wks ago, I had to pay separately for each checked bag. It's kind of annoying coz the charging structures motivates me to bring one huge bag (would prefer 2 smaller checked bags). Hey ho.

BA do a hand luggage fare now, but its only about £30 difference each way

It just makes it so hard to work out which fare is better.

I mean who in their right mind travels long haul and doesn't need a checked in bag. It's ridiculous.

I mean who in their right mind travels long haul and doesn't need a checked in bag. It's ridiculous.

Me

They are all trying to compete with the low cost airlines, virgin now have economy basic, classic and plus (or similar) and yes it's bloody annoying trying to compete prices

I took a family of 4 to New York for 6 nights in the winter with just hand luggage. I like that there is an option to do this.

I used to fly to nyc on very quick jaunts for work. Would take hand luggage for time.

I know virgin tier now but it doesnt double the price. Im curious what airline this is so I can be mindful of it.

Its also better to look at the airline website directly re baggage costs and allowances rather than just look at fares on a comparison website. If you buy cheap you pay twice. Adding a bag too does not automatically double the fare so would suggest you book with the airline directly.

Charging for bags and seat selection these days is pretty much standard and has been in place for years now because these are good revenue streams for the airlines. Many US based carriers charge their international passengers to put a second bag into the hold of the aircraft.

You need to be careful when using online booking engines when it comes to luggage and protection.
It's easy to put in your destination, get a price and halfway through the process be advised that Hold baggage and payment protection need to be added on.
In my view there's a grey are between the clever design of the customer journey on an online site and the increasing complexity of fares that sit behind the price matrix for fares.
For example, there are 25 categories of restrictions on most fares but most online engines assume that you know what they are. A travel specialist HAS to read them all and notify you otherwise you have recourse if you've been misled.
By all means, check the prices online but my advice would be to call a travel specialist to confrm the offer, luggage and anything else is valid. It's worth 10 minutes for peace of mind.

@christravelwizard

Thanks for the advice. These price comparison website just bring up the cheapest tickets when that's not the ones I am interested in.

So a basic ticket plus one bag costs more than a standard ticket that includes one bag.

Airlines pricing is becoming opaque as Train tickets.

@ahmawa,
I absolutely agree and I used it be caught out. Now that I’m 400 years old, I find I need more stuff to carry whereas my 22 year old daughter seems happy to travel to the moon with hand luggage! What’s all that about?
I get better fares and luggage allowances because I cheat (confession - I work in the industry) so my advice is to always run two searches - one on any online site and one on an airline site. That way, you get to know what’s the true cost.

I was caught out with this on a flight to US last month. Booked economy lite tickets with Air France for a 10 day trip for myself and DD and had no idea of the new ticket tiers and assumed all long haul flights still included checked luggage.

In the end I paid £44 each way for just one checked bag between the 2 of us as Air France allow a 12kg piece of hand luggage each as well as a handbag/backpack type thing. Worked out fine.

Singapore Airlines on the other hand who my parents just flew to US with this week (for pretty much same ticket price) still allow 35kg each included with economy tickets. I know who I will go with next time!!

Still worked out a bit cheaper than the standard economy ticket for my journey though.

Flew virgin to San Francisco this summer hand luggage only worked well.

Looking at Canada for next year and all the cheapest fares regardless of carrier are with out checked luggage.