US: Travellers spent $8.6b on baggage, change fees last year. Airlines won't get that pay day in 2020

The last time the airline industry was struggling, in 2008, executives decided to start charging customers for checked bags. Bag fees became the norm and rose steadily, turning into a big money maker for airlines. How big? US airlines collected $5.8b in baggage fees in 2019, nearly a billion dollars more than in 2018 thanks to fee increases and strong travel demand, according to annual figures released Monday by the federal Bureau of Transportation Statistics. Together with $2.8b in ticket change and cancellation fees, it's $8.6b in revenue airlines will desperately miss this year as the coronavirus crisis keeps passengers and their suitcases home for the foreseeable future. "The money airlines collect from these optional product fees are their financial lifelines," said Henry Harteveldt, co-founder of Atmosphere Research Group. "It's become a core part of their revenue. It is central to how they do business." Airlines started 2020 optimistic about travel demand. But with planes flying nearly empty, there are few bags to check, and ticket change fees are being waived, drying up fee revenue along with ticket sales. Q1 BTS figures for 2020 aren't out yet but won't show the full impact from coronavirus because the crisis started hitting US airlines hard in late February. <br/>