Passengers on Canada’s two biggest airlines can expect to pay a tad more for their checked bags.
Air Canada and WestJet will charge $30 instead of $25 for one checked bag. The second bag will cost $50 instead of $30.
Both airlines are blaming higher operating costs and increased fuel prices for the hike. In July, WestJet posted their first quarterly loss in more than a decade, partly because of soaring fuel prices.
“It’s not as easy making money as an airline in Canada as it was a year or two ago because the price of high fuel and the growth of competition as well,” Karl Moore, associate professor at McGill University’s Desautels Faculty of Management, told CTV News Channel on Friday.
While this is the first time in four years the prices for checked bags have gone up among the two airlines, Moore doesn’t believe passengers will be too aggravated by the additional fees to avoid flying.
“Fairly quickly, people (will) get over it and I think they also realize that (in) the U.S. and Europe, particularly on low-cost carriers, this sort of thing is very common-place now,” he said.
Introducing prices for checked bags has prompted passengers to instead bring carry-on luggage to avoid the additional fees. Moore foresees airlines soon clamping down on overgrown carry-on bags.
“The airlines need to push back a bit because it’s gotten to the point where we don’t have the room for that,” he said.
The new fees apply to passengers buying tickets in the lowest fare categories.
