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Air Canada Adds First Bag Fee for Flyers Between the US and Canada

At this point it seems like pretty much every carrier that could has already added a checked baggage fee, but there are a few more that haven’t yet betrayed global flyers. Remove Air Canada from that list, as it looks like they’re slapping flyers with a first checked bag fee as of October 11.

Our airline buddies north of the border will begin to charge $25 for the first checked bag for all tickets bought on or after September 7 for travel from Canada into the United States, and like we said, it’s for travel beginning October 11. If you’re checking two bags, things will at least remain the same, as it’s going to be $35 for the second bag.

Just in case you don’t have any scrap paper handy we’ll do the math for you—that’s $120 per person for a roundtrip flight when you check two bags like in the good ol’ days.

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Thought You'd Never Loathe An Airline More Than Ryanair? Meet Royal Brunei

No wonder the baggage handlers have nothing to do

If, like us, you’re, ahem, not one of those pack lightly types, then you’ll know the little shrinking feeling you get in your stomach when you need to pack a suitcase. In fact, you’re probably so prone to going over the limit that you can tell at one lift whether a case weighs in at under 50lb, and your storage space is crammed with cheap Walmart holdalls bought when you got just one too many BBQ sauces/Elvis clocks/random bags of Egyptian tea.

As a sufferer of this affliction, you already fly JetBlue or Southwest over the legacy carriers. You know BA often works out than Ryanair when across the pond. You know when it’s worth attempting the crouch of shame, and when to admit defeat.

So it’s for you people that we’re adding another airline to the no-fly list: Royal Brunei.

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Frontier's Airline Fees Are Actually Going Down Instead of Up

Pretty much anytime that we mention "airline" and "fee" in the same sentence, it’s for something bad. Surprisingly, however, Frontier Airlines has made a change to its fees that will make a lot of potential passengers pretty pleased.

Change fees have now dropped to just $50 which is a lot less than some other major carriers, and if you purchase one of their fancier fares you won’t even have to worry about a change fee. They’re also allowing name changes on existing tickets—which is usually a definite no on pretty much all airlines—but there’s a catch. There’s a $50 fee to do so, and you’ll need to pay a fare difference based on the current price on the day of the change.

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Get Your Luggage Late and Uncle Sam May Refund the Baggage Fee

At this point we’re all pretty much accustomed to those pesky airline baggage fees, but that doesn't me we have to accept them. In the past, Uncle Sam has wanted to stick his nose into airline business regarding these charges, but it looks like the latest idea might actually be something that we can totally support.

The Department of Transportation isn’t really complaining about airline baggage fees—although deep down we sure they hate them too—but they are sick of the fees when your baggage doesn’t even arrive as promised. They’re proposing that the airlines refund your baggage fee if your roller, duffel, or steamer trunk doesn’t arrive at the baggage belt when you do.

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All the Airline Baggage Fees You Need to Know for Spring Travel to Europe

Going somewhere this spring or summer? Europe, maybe? If you or someone you know has a transatlantic flight or two in their future, then there's one super helpful guide you need to bookmark: EuroCheapo's Guide to Airline Baggage Fees on Flights to Europe. It's simple, it's brilliant and—better yet—it was just updated.

You can see a small snippet of the chart above, but trust that it covers everything from IcelandAir's first-two-bags-free policy to Continental's outrageous $200 extra charge for an overweight bag. Thanks to this chart, you'll be better able to plan when it's worth it to wear triple layers of souvenir T-shirts to avoid crazy fees.

See the complete EuroCheapo Guide to Europe-bound Baggage Fees RIGHT HERE.

[Excerpt image: Eurocheapo]

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Spirit Airlines Raises Baggage Fees Again, Screws Over Passengers

What does a little last-minute packing mean to you? Maybe a forgotten toothbrush, or that you have to call a cab versus taking public transportation to the airport. For Spirit Airlines, your last-minute packing means dollar signs in their eyes, because they've just upped their baggage fees.

According to CNN, Spirit will now charge extra for those who wait to pay for their checked or carry-on luggage until within 24 hours of departure. If your within 24 hours of your flight and you go online to Spirit's website to pay, it'll be an extra $5. If you freak out and call Spirit on the phone to pay, it's an extra $10. Here's the complete chart of what's owed when, if you're flying Spirit with anything more than a little purse:

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Hipmunk Turns the History of Baggage Fees into an Infographic

This is the only tippy top of it

Holy crap. You know that little chipmunk mascot that likely keeps drawing you back and back again to search flights and hotels on Hipmunk.com? Well, that anime-cute rodent has been doing some serious number-crunching behind the scenes, and Hipmunk has released a beautiful, want-to-lick-it lovely infographic that easily educates the traveler on the history of evil, evil Baggage Fees.

The infographic is quite long, covering all the major soap opera-like drama that's gone down with airlines and oil prices and whatnot since 2000. There's a few "Hip Tips" for getting around baggage fees, and we especially love the shark feeding frenzy graphic about half-way down. Finally, they make us frightened for the coming of space travel. SEE THE WHOLE THING HERE.

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Ryanair Embraces YouTube, But Only to Mock Past and Future Customers

Irish LCC Ryanair has long been notorious for eschewing social media. Their reasoning is unclear, but we've always guessed it goes something like "if we engage our customers they might think we don't hate them, and then where will we be?" It turns out, though, that the airline makes exceptions on its embargo when it can use platforms like YouTube to be extra douchey.

You'll recall how, just before the weekend started, we posted this story about a near-riot that broke out on a Ryanair jet. A vacationing Belgian student had overpacked but refused to pay the airline's draconian baggage fees. He was duly denied entry onto the plane, which upset the students with whom he was vacationing, which led to something of a scuffle, which ended with dozens of arrests and the entire plane getting cleared. We kind of sort of sided with Ryanair, since we don't expect anything better from the airline and we don't understand how anyone else possibly could.

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Pack Light, as US Airways Hikes Some Checked Bag Fees

Watch what you pack next time you fly US Airways, as the airline has just raised some of their checked bag fees. Luckily the price hikes only effect overweight baggage—over 50 pounds per case—plus those who bring more than 2 bags, but it does suck considering that the majority of the stories we've had on US Airways in the last year involve their baggage handling incompetency.

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Ryanair Passengers Now Literally Rioting Over Crappy Service, Baggage Fees

Some people have suggested that we pile on when it comes to the hysterical crappiness of Irish LCC Ryanair, but take it from us—90% of the stuff that they deserve to get mocked for doesn't even make it into posts. There's just not enough time. So you'll never get full stories about how the airline is specifically seeking out cheap Russian and Chinese jets to build its fleet. You'll also never see a full writeup of how the company sued and shut down a complaint site called I Hate Ryanair (but not their Twitter), attacking it as "vitriolic and highly disparaging" a few months after they themselves ran an ad comparing a competitor to genocidal Zimbabwe President Robert Mugabe.

But we simply have to do this story from a few days ago, if only because it's the second time in four months that 100 Ryanair passengers have staged an on-board protest. In November, a France-bound Ryanair flight decided to land in Belgium without really telling anyone, and in response the people on board simply refused to get off the plane. This time was even more exciting, with a literal riot breaking out over the airline's draconian baggage fees.

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Southwest's 'Bag Cops' Chase Down Checked Baggage Fees

Another round of "Bags Fly Free" commercials are out from Southwest Airlines, and before they air during the upcoming football games, you can catch them online at SWA's Facebook page. The ads again point out the big difference between Southwest's baggage fees and those of most other airlines—that Southwest doesn't charge any cash for your first two bags, so long as it's under the approved size and weight.

The two-episode series follows two SWA baggage handlers, aka the "Bag Cops," as they chase down airplanes of other airlines, where the second and yes, sometimes ever the first checked bag, incurs fees. The ads are really cute and, more importantly, quite creative! We'd watch more of these mini-episodes, should they decide to continue the campaign.

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Even Cartoons Can't Stand Airline Baggage Fees

Aren't checked baggage fees just one of the most annoying things in modern air travel? Aside from ending up next to someone who loudly gabs on their phone until the final seconds before takeoff, encountering a bag fee is like our worst nightmare. We hate surprises like that.

And it looks like we're not alone. Even the famously cranky Cathy comic gives her two cents on the issue with the above stripe. The point is, there's all these great fashions to take on your vacation, but if you're too frugal to pay a $25 (or higher) bag fee or you're just against the charge altogether, then you may be stuck picking between style and comfort for the few things that fit in your carry-on. Let's hope Cathy doesn't discover Spirit Airlines' carry-on baggage fee too.

[Photo: GoComics]