JetBlue to charge for baggage fees and remove extra leg room
If you are one of those traveller's tired of paying for luggage bags and have been taking advantage of Jet Blue's free checked bag policy, your travel plans may soon be affected.
Things might be getting a bit tighter in JetBlue's cabins - and a little bit pricier for those looking to check bags.
The airline announced today that it is looking to add 15 seats to all of the Airbus A320 planes in its fleet. This would reduce the seat pitch - the distance from any point on one seat to the exact same point on the seat in front of it - from 34.7 inches to 33.1 inches.
The changes are expected to generate an additional $300 million in revenue per year, NBCNews.com reported.
Other big airlines have added fees on checked bags since 2008, and JetBlue's move will leave Southwest as the only large U.S. airline that allows all passengers to check at least one bag for free. Southwest has said the lack of bag fees attracts enough additional passengers to more than offset money that would be raised by fees.
"This was something that the carrier needed to do in order to be more competitive and to close the financial gap with its peers," S&P Capital IQ analyst Jim Corridore said. "It (had placed) them at a serious competitive disadvantage in an industry where profit margins are very, very low."
JetBlue posted a net income of $79 million last quarter, compared to $357 million at Delta Air Lines and $924 million at United Airlines, which were buoyed in small part by baggage fees.
