Airline baggage fees are refundable — and here’s how

Remember “no waivers, no favors,” the onerous post-9/11 policy that prevented airline employees from bending the rules? You’d think that with the advent of new baggage fees, we were looking at a sequel to the “no waivers” policy. Not so.

Checked baggage fees can be refunded under certain conditions.

The most common reason? When an airline misplaces or loses your luggage. I’ve heard from several passengers who have told me that a refund of the $15 first-checked-bag fee is offered, no questions asked. As well it should.

Another time you can expect your money back is when there’s what I call a codeshare confusion. It’s what happened to Steve Janusz, who made a reservation on Delta Air Lines for fly from Minneapolis to Denver recently. At the time, Delta didn’t charge a fee for the first checked bag.

When we checked in at the airport in Minneapolis we were told the flight had been changed to a Northwest flight and we needed to check in at the Northwest counter.

Northwest charged us each $15 for checking a bag. The Delta agent told us to check with Delta customer service after our trip to get reimbursed for checking our bags.

He did, but Delta offered a $25 voucher instead of a $30 refund he’d been promised. I recommended that Janusz contact a customer service manager at Delta asking the airline to reconsider. The result?

I was able to contact Daiquiri Gleaves via email at Delta and received a phone call from Dorothy Sellers. She worked with me to get a check for $30.

I’m sure there are other reasons airlines are refunding their $15 baggage fee. Have you run across any others?

  • Liz

    When you booked a ticket way before all this nonsense started and when you get to the ticket counter they insist on charging you the fee regardless? It hasn’t happened to me yet, but I bought my ticket for Xmas back in February, and I’m sure when I get to the ticketing agent in December they’ll be asking for $15.

  • Ted – Phoenix Justice

    As many have noted before, if the airlines were serious about getting people on and off the plane quicker, they would have a fee for carry-on luggage instead of checked luggage. Have you seen the size of “carry-on” luggage some people are getting away with?

  • Cathie

    I flew Northwest on Friday November 28 and was surprised to see no checked baggage fees unless you were checking a 3rd bag. I had flown Northwest on November 15 and 24 when I did have to pay for my checked bag. Not sure if it was a holiday bonus or what but was interesting to see it as free.

  • Lianne

    Delta still doesn’t charge for the first bag. Of course with the Northwest merger this is likely to change.

    If one good thing comes out this fee nonsense it may be better baggage handling. If you’re going to charge me separately for a service and you don’t procide it adequately then I better damn well get a refund.

  • Kathleen

    Delta’s checked bag fees will be aligned with Northwest’s as of tomorrow, Dec 5. $15 for the first bag and $25 for the second. This is for all Delta tickets purchased on or before Nov 5th.

  • GratefulFlyer

    It makes no sense at all for airlines to refund the $15 checked bag fee when they lose or misplace the bag. The airline incurs significant expense when they have to track down the bag and deliver it to the passenger, including the cost of agents wasted time answering the passenger’s repeated badgering calls about the status of the bag. Airline shareholders are taking enough of a beating to begin with, so it seems grossly unfair to burden them not only with cost of recovering the bag but the loss of the $15 profit from the checked baggage fee.

    It’s probably the passenger’s fault that the bag got lost anyway. They should have checked in earlier, or selected a connection that allowed sufficient time for the bag to make it onto the next flight. So it’s only fair that the passenger should fully reimburse the shareholders for the expense of providing this special service through of a baggage recovery fee, collected when the passenger turns in the lost baggage claim form. Any passenger who demands a refund of $15 checked baggage fee is nothing more than a petty thief who is stealing from the airline’s shareholders, and deserves a loud angry lecture to teach the respect they’re so clearly lacking.

    Passengers need to realize that airlines don’t owe them anything beyond the opportunity to get from point A to point B, with no guarantees of anything. Airlines are doing passengers a very big favor by letting them occupy space that would be better occupied with freight, which generates far more revenue and causes far less trouble. Airlines are in business to provide maximum return on their shareholders’ investment, and any “exception” that incurs an expense is nothing more than stealing. Passengers and their petty selfish are a necessary evil to keep the planes full and optimally profitable. The sooner passengers accept the reality of what they are to the airlines, the better it will be for everyone. Passengers need to show gratitude for what the airlines and their shareholders graciously provide. So shut up, pay your fees, sit quietly in that middle seat, and don’t give airline employees any trouble. And remember “no waivers, no favors.”

  • Chris

    I really do hope that was meant to be sarcastic…

  • SpotLightofTruth

    GratefulFlyer has inadvertently stumbled onto the next big opportunity for airline fees.

    Airlines will soon be charging a $15 lost baggage fee in addition to the checked baggage fee.

    Passengers will pay the $15 lost baggage fee when their baggage is lost and they must contact the airline to locate it.

    Passengers can avoid the $15 lost baggage fee in two ways:
    1) Don’t check the bag, which also saves the $15 checked baggage fee
    2) Just wait till heck freezes over for your lost bag that may or may not eventually materialize somewhere in an airport (not necessarily your destination airport).

    The announcement headline will be

    XXX Airlines Offers Up to $30 Savings Opportunity to Each Passenger

  • Kelly

    GratefulFlyer, are you serious? That is the most assanine thing I have ever heard! Boohoo, we should be worrying about the shareholders? The share holders should be complaining to these airlines that are losing them money other than blaming the passengers for losing them money. If it weren’t for the passenger who buys the ridicuously expensive tickets, shareholders wouldn’t be getting any money in the first place.

    And its the passengers fault for lost luggage? Why don’t you talk to the baggage handlers who get treated like crap and don’t make much money and work in crazy weather conditions that don’t give a rat’s butt what happens to the luggage? You have got to be kidding me. If I pay extra for something like a checked in bag, they damn well right better reimburse me for the incompetence, laziness, or don’t care attitude of the people who handle the bags and lose or damage them.

    “Passengers need to show gratitude for what the airlines and their shareholders graciously provide. So shut up, pay your fees, sit quietly in that middle seat, and don’t give airline employees any trouble. And remember “no waivers, no favors.”

    So what is it that the airlines and shareholders graciously provide? Is it crappy service? Is it no more snacks on board? Is it cancellation of a flight with no remorse? Is it jacking people around to not give them refunds/vouchers when they are 100% necessary and the right thing to do? So what is the gratitude that I should show for that?

    Waiver and favors is what makes a company worth going back to. It makes a customer feel special in a industry that feels like we are being shuttled like cattle. Think about it, if someone did something special for you, wouldn’t you want to show your appreciation?

    If I pay for a service, whatever the service may be, I expect my hard earned dollars to go to a company that is going to treat me and myself with respect and integrity, not to be jacked around with false promises.

  • Booked Ahead

    I booked a flight on NWA in April 2008 for a flight in early 2009, way before baggage fees began. When the fees went into effect bookings made prior to those dates were excluded. Now I see their policy no longer addresses my situation. Instead they only talk about a lower fee for third and subsequent bags when booked prior to Nov. 12. Does anyone know if I will really be charged for our first bag? The thought makes my blood boil.

  • angela

    i dont feel that any airlines should be charging for a first baggage when the people in first class or business clas is allowed to bring on 3 bags for free, and also i dont think the airlines should get away with this retro-active fee if you bought your ticket between sept 6 2008 and travel on or after oct 7th 2008 which went into effect on oct 7th 2008, if i would of bought my ticket on oct 7th 2008 which is the day that fee for that airlines went into effect then i would pay it, but to retro-active a charge makes no sense to me at all. and to allow higher class customers in first class and business clas who first of all can afford those seats but to those of us who cant and we get economy seats have to pay for first bag, lower the amount of bags first class and business class brings on, that would be fair. then we lower class can get at least one bag for free. to me if your not spending high dollars then you get nothing for free, not even traveling with your clothes.

  • John

    I returned from a trip last week where I flew from ATL to DIA on Delta, then DIA to JAC on United. Delta charged the $15 fee for a checked bag, and then fumbled the hand-off to United. When I arrived in JAC, United had no record of my bag in their system, as even 4 hours after landing at DIA, Delta had still not moved it into the correct bin for United to pick it up. Fortunately, my bag was delivered to me the following morning.

    I called Delta today to inquire about a refund of the $15 fee and was told by a somewhat surly customer care agent that:

    1. Apparently, somewhere it is written that no refunds shall be given for mishandled checked bags unless it takes longer than 24 hours to get your bag to you.

    and

    2. Additionally, if you change carriers mid-stream, it’s the carrier that you arrived at your destination that owes you money (provided it’s been longer than 24 hours, of course), even though you never paid them. Which means you aren’t going to get a quick and easy charge-back onto your credit card, you are probably going to have to wait 4-6 weeks for them to cut you a check.

    And nevermind the fact that now that these fees are in place, everyone tries to bring everything in a carry-on. We nearly had to gate-check our small carry-on bag because there was no room for it as the overheads were full. They miraculously “found room” for it after I mentioned that we were changing carriers in DIA, and would need a gate pick-up to make sure it made our connecting flight. I’d hate to think what would have happened to that bag otherwise…

  • Holly Krantz

    Can anybody else guess who’s an airline shareholder? I had a roundtrip flight with Northwest that got cancelled on my return date so they switched me to Delta. The new time on the different airline was the same day but a few hours later-I was 2 hours early to check-in as aways but I didn’t complain because my grandmother whom I had gone to visit was with me so we had a little extra time to chat(and had brought sandwiches from home so we wouldn’t be paying $8 for a cheeseburger from airport restaurants). When I checked in with Northwest that day all was well. There was no announcement that the flight was cancelled until 15 minutes before we were scheduled to board. I had already paid the $20 fee for my 1 CHECKED-not a recovery fee, bag to Northwest(which I consider my “guarantee” Grateful)I wasn’t charged the fee on my way there or informed that there would be any charge when I booked online but paid the fee without complaining and was thankful that they had just forgotten(I assumed) on my way there. That was refunded to me upon my return to NW check-in to get my details for the new flight. When I got to Delta I was informed I would need to give them $15. No biggie-I was fully expecting that and happy it was cheaper. I was going to pay with my check card but their machine was broken. I handed the clerk a $20 bill but she didn’t have change. She could’ve walked 15 feet(I am NOT exaggerating)to get change but she was THAT lazy she just said “nevermind, I’ll just…okay, you’re all set”. So no fee from Delta AND Northwest gave me a voucher for a free roundtrip ticket on their airlines! I would like to say to GratefulFlyer, I am ALWAYS at the absolute least 2 hours early for my flights(usually 3 so I can skip so much line time or have that time in case there are new people training)On one particular flight with NW I left from Michigan&had a layover in Pennsylvania for 3 hours 17 minutes(yes I keep my stubs)&one in Atlanta for 4 hours 6 minutes before getting home to Augusta, Georgia. I was in high school and this was a Sunday flight. There was a problem with the plane I was to board in Pennsyvania. A clip that holds the tray on the back of a seat was broken. It was considered unsafe so we couldn’t board and we were not assigned new flights. It took 7 hours and 13 minutes for them to get it fixed. When I arrived in Atlanta I retrieved my regular size bookbag I was forced to check upon boarding the jet. Then I had to run on the moving sidewalk and BARELY made my flight to Augusta. Only 1 of the 4 people I had been talking to in PA that were to continue on the same flight as me, made it on time. He was an athlete and over 6 feet tall. I was 4 feet 2 inches tall so you can imagine how hard I was still breathing. My bag checked in Michigan didn’t make it with me and I had to make arrangements for it to be delivered to my school the next day. Those arrangements had to made immediately at the airport in Augusta(of course that was AFTER I waited at baggage claim with the other guy because while on board the flight from Atl to Aug there was an announcement to “the people from the delayed PA flight” that or “bags were sent on an earlier flight and would be waiting for us”)My request to call in the morning after getting it okay’d by my school was quickly and LOUDLY denied. I was also told it would be between 7am (school started at 8)and 7pm. If it was after 2:30 when school got out and nobody was there to accept it the bag would be sent to Goodwill as unclaimed. And it’s my fault they couldn’t take the time to write a quick note that if it was after 2:30 to deliver it to my home? …in short, I had 2 VERY different experiences with airlines. I am not at all upset about the charge for a checked bag or for carry-ons being weighed. With 9/11 and planes crashing because they are overweight with to much baggage, it’s a simple way to make people more mindful of what they pack. I also agree with everyone saying that sevice should be addressed and improved WITH those fees. Give the handlers a raise in pay so they want to keep up the good work to keep up the compensation. As ofr if your luggage is lost, the fee should DEFINATELY be refunded. The fee is for the extra effort for your extra stuff(if we are saying “pack lighter” Grateful)so there obviously was no effort, so no fee makes sense to me. But Grateful DID actually have 2good points. 1.Be nice to the flight attendants, they will be nicer to you and it’s not their fault if you have other fees. That’s not in their control. 2.Sit in your middle seat quietly. Again, not in the control of the attendants and nobody wants to sit next to “that crazy loud person having a hissy fit” on the plane. If you had been nicer to the attendants earlier they would’ve already given you a better seat. And, no, I am not an attendant. Lol. But you are completely able to find out if you are getting a window, aisle, or center seat when you purchase your ticket online or over the phone or in person. That’s my 2 cents. And, no, you can’t have any change.

  • Holly Krantz

    Can anybody else guess who’s an airline shareholder? I had a roundtrip flight w/Northwest cancelled on my return date so they switched me to Delta. My new time was the same day but a few hours later. I had been there 2 hours early to as aways for check-in but no complaints because my grandmother whom I had gone to visit w/me-waiting, not coming to GA, so we had a little extra time to chat. When I checked in with Northwest that day all was well. No announcement the flight was cancelled until 15 minutes before we were scheduled to board. I already paid the $20 fee for my 1 CHECKED-not a recovery fee-bag to Northwest(I consider that a “guarantee” Grateful)I wasn’t charged the fee on my way there or informed there would be any charge when I booked online but paid the fee w/out complaining&was thankful they had forgotten(I assumed)on my way there. My $20 was refunded to me upon return to NW check-in to get details for my new flight. When I got to Delta I was informed I would need to give them $15. No biggie-I was fully as much&happy it was cheaper. I was going to pay w/my check card but their machine was broken. I handed the clerk a $20 bill but she didn’t have change. She could’ve walked 15 feet(I am NOT exaggerating)to get change but she was, thankfully, lazy. She just said “nevermind, I’ll just…okay, you’re all set”. So no fee from Delta AND Northwest gave me a voucher for a free roundtrip ticket on their airlines! Great experience for me. I would like to say, GratefulFlyer, I am ALWAYS at the absolute least 2 hours early for my flights(to skip standing in line forever or in case there’s new people training)On one particular flight, I left from Michigan&had a layover in Pennsylvania for 3 hours 17 minutes(yes I keep my stubs)&one in Atlanta for 4 hours 6 minutes before getting home to Augusta, Georgia. I was in high school&it was a Sunday flight. In PA a clip that holds the tray on the back of a seat was broken. It was considered unsafe so we couldn’t board&were not assigned new flights. It took 7 hours 13 minutes for them to get it fixed. When I arrived in Atl I retrieved my regular size bookbag I was forced to check upon boarding. Then I ran on the moving sidewalk&BARELY made my flight. Only 1 of the other 4 people I had been talking to in PA continueing on the same flight as I, made it on time. He was an athlete and over 6 feet tall. I was 4 feet 2 inches tall so you can imagine it was quite inconvenient. My bag checked in Michigan didn’t make it so I had to get it to be deliver somewhere the next day. Those arrangements had to made IMMEDIATELY @ the airport in Aug(of course that was AFTER I waited @ baggage claim w/the other guy because while on board the flight from Atl to Aug there was an announcement to “the people from the delayed PA flight” that or “bags were sent on an earlier flight” &would be waiting for us)My request to call in the morning after getting it okay’d by my school was quickly&LOUDLY denied. I was also told it would be between 7am (school started@8)& 7pm. If it was after 2:30(when school got out)&nobody was there to accept it, my bag would be sent to Goodwill as unclaimed. And it’s my fault they couldn’t take the time to write a quick note if it was after 2:30 to deliver it to my home? …in short, I had 2 VERY different experiences w/airlines. I am not at all upset about the charge for a checked bag or for carry-ons being weighed. With 9/11 &planes crashing because they are overweight w/to much baggage, it’s a simple way to make people more mindful of what they pack. I agree sevice should be improved WITH those fees. Give the handlers proper compensation for quality work. If luggage is lost, the fee should DEFINATELY be refunded. GratefulFlyer, the fee is so airlines can give a guarantee of service. If there obviously was no effort(i.e.I don’t get my stuff at point B), no fee. But you DID actually have 2 good points. 1.Be nice to flight attendants about things, they’ll be nicer to you. 2.Sit in your middle seat quietly. Again, not in the control of attendants&nobody wants to sit next to “that crazy loud person having a hissy fit” on the plane. If you’d been nicer to the attendants you’d have a better seat already. No, I’m not an attendant. Lol. That’s my 2 cents. And, no, you can’t have any change.

  • Duke Nukem

    GratefulFlyer, people like you are what’s wrong with the airline industry!