A teen passenger had his shirt sucked off his body when the door plug of an Alaska Airlines plane blew away in mid-air last week.
20.12.2023 - 21:36 / travelpulse.com / Rich Thomaselli
Has a precedent been set?
That’s the fear among air travelers in what is generally considered a copycat, some might say incestuous, business.
Alaska Airlines has raised its baggage fees, leading many to wonder if the U.S. airline industry will follow suit.
Baggage costs for travelers are just one of the many ancillary fees that airlines impose that annoy air travelers.
Alaska has raised its fee from $30 to $35 for a checked bag for economy passengers without any mileage status or upgrades from a credit card. A second bag will jump from $40 to $45 while anything beyond that will remain at $150.
The new baggage fees go into effect on January 2, 2024.
"As we navigate rising operating costs – including high fuel prices – we occasionally need to adjust our fee structure to maintain a high level of excellence in the service we provide," Alaska Air Group said.
Alaska hasn't raised baggage fees in almost six years.
Frequent travelers who were previously entitled to a free checked bag will still receive that benefit. Those with credit cards affiliated with Alaska should check with the carrier because they may be entitled to up to three free bags depending on their status.
Whether other airlines raise their fees remains to be seen. However, airlines will seemingly always find a new ancillary fee.
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A teen passenger had his shirt sucked off his body when the door plug of an Alaska Airlines plane blew away in mid-air last week.
United Airlines has found loose bolts in its own Boeing 737 MAX 9 aircraft just days after the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) grounded the planes following a mid-air blowout on Alaska Airlines.
Over the weekend, the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) grounded flights on all Boeing 737-9 Max planes following a harrowing incident on Alaska Airlines flight 1282 in which a plug door near the rear of the plane blew out at 16,000 feet, six minutes into a flight from Portland, Oregon, to Ontario, California, causing the cabin to lose pressure. Oxygen masks were deployed, and passengers described a rough ride as the plane quickly returned to the Portland airport; no one was seriously hurt, but several of the 177 people aboard were treated for minor injuries. The incident prompted a sweeping grounding of most of the 215 Boeing 737-9 Max planes that were flying worldwide.
On Friday, a fuselage panel blew out on an Alaska Airlines Boeing 737 Max 9 plane seven minutes after takeoff from Portland, Oregon.
Hundreds of flights have been canceled and aircraft around the world have been grounded as officials investigate what led to this weekend's in-flight blowout of an Alaska Airlines plane over Oregon.
Alaska Airlines has issued a “flexible travel waiver” across its network following the Boeing 737-9 MAX incident on Friday night, grounding dozens of airplanes for further inspection.
The cockpit voice recorder for Alaska Airlines Flight 1282 was overwritten, hampering investigators aiming to determine why a door plug for an exit door on the Boeing 737 Max 9 jetliner blew out shortly after the flight took off from Portland on Friday night.
Investigators asked for the public's help Saturday night to find a missing piece of the Alaska Airlines jet that lost a plug in its fuselage on Friday.
Alaska Airlines has reached a new milestone in a multiyear overhaul of its fleet.
Alaska Airlines temporarily grounded its Boeing 737 MAX 9 fleet late Friday night after an aircraft departing the Portland International Airport (PDX) in Oregon experienced a sudden hull breach and decompression.
Alaska Airlines will temporarily ground its fleet of 65 Boeing 737 MAX 9 aircraft after a cabin panel blowout forced a jetliner loaded with passengers to make an emergency landing on Friday, CEO Ben Minicucci said.
Airlines continue to roll out deals to jumpstart bookings in the New Year. Alaska Airlines' «2024 Takeoff Sale» has flight deals available from nearly all of the 115 destinations Alaska flies to. The sale is currently available until tomorrow, Jan. 5, at 11:59pm. The discounted flights vary in departure dates with the top deals including: