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American Airlines just made it up to 33% more expensive to check your bag on the world's largest airline. Effective immediately, American Airlines baggage fees have increased from $30 to as much as $40 for a first checked bag on domestic and short-haul international flights.
However, American Airlines is offering travelers a partial reprieve from the higher checked baggage fees. Plus, travelers still have plenty of ways to avoid paying baggage fees entirely. Here's what you need to know about these changes — and how to avoid them.
American Airlines New Domestic Checked Baggage Fees
American Airlines will now charge passengers $40 for their first checked bag and $45 for a second checked bag. These checked baggage fees apply to domestic American Airlines flights (including Hawaii and Alaska), Puerto Rico, and the U.S. Virgin Islands. Before this change, American Airlines baggage fees were $30 for a first checked bag and $40 for a second checked bag.
The Dallas-based airline also increased checked baggage fees on short-haul international flights. You'll now need to pay $35 (instead of $30) for a first checked bag and $45 (instead of $40) for a second checked bag when flying between the U.S. and the following regions:
- Canada
- Mexico
- Caribbean (except Cuba and Haiti)
- Central America (except Panama)
- Guyana and Suriname
Here's the updated American Airlines checked baggage fee chart:
As you can see, this baggage fee chart has a slew of asterisks and footnotes. Here's a recap of what these say.
Save by prepaying
Travelers can save $5 off their first domestic checked bag fee by prepaying their checked bag on American Airlines' website or app. This prepaid bag option is available between 24 hours and 4 hours before departure — up to 2 hours before departure at Dallas/Fort Worth (DFW) and Washington Reagan National (DCA).
This discount brings the price down to $35 for your first checked bag on domestic U.S. flights. Note that this discount only doesn't apply to additional bags or regions outside the U.S.
Already-ticketed flights
These new checked bag fees are effective for American Airlines tickets issued on or after February 20, 2024. If you ticketed your flight by February 19, 2024, American Airlines will still charge the checked bag fees in place at the time you purchased your flight:
- $30 for a first checked bag.
- $40 for a second checked bag.
For reference, here's the checked bag fee chart in place through February 19, 2024:
How to Avoid American Airlines Checked Bag Fees
For many loyal readers of the AwardWallet Blog, this American Airlines checked bag fee increase should be a non-issue. That's because travelers have several ways to avoid paying American Airlines checked bag fees.
AAdvantage credit cards
For most travelers, getting an AAdvantage credit card is going to be the easiest way to avoid paying checked bag fees on American Airlines. Most American Airlines credit cards offer cardholders a free checked bag on domestic and short-haul international American Airlines flights.
This perk generally extends to the other travelers in your reservation, making getting an AAdvantage card a must-have for families and groups.
- Complimentary Admirals Club® membership for the primary cardholder
- Admirals Club® membership for authorized user accounts
- First checked bag free on domestic AA flights for you and up to 8 companions
- Priority check-in, TSA screening lines, and boarding
- 10,000 bonus Loyalty Points after you spend $40,000 in purchases within the year
- Global Entry or TSA PreCheck credit
- No Foreign Transaction Fees
- Earn 10X miles for every $1 spent on eligible hotels booked at aa.com/hotels and eligible rental cars booked through aa.com/cars
- Earn 4X miles for every $1 spent on eligible American Airlines purchases (increased to 5X miles through the end of the calendar year after you pass $150,000 in purchases annually)
- Earn 1X mile for every $1 spent on all other purchases
Elite status
The other primary way of avoiding checked bag fees on American Airlines is to have elite status through American Airlines AAdvantage, Alaska Mileage Plan, or another Oneworld airline:
- First checked bag free: AAdvantage Gold, Alaska Mileage Plan MVP, and other Oneworld Ruby elites all get one free checked bag on all American Airlines flights.
- Two free checked bags: AAdvantage Platinum, Mileage Plan MVP Gold, and other Oneworld Sapphire elites get two checked bags anywhere American Airlines flies.
- Three free checked bags: AAdvantage Platinum Pro and Executive Platinum, Mileage Plan MVP Gold 75K and MVP Gold 100K, and other Oneworld Emeralds can check up to three checked bags at no cost.
Bottom Line
American Airlines just increased the cost of checking a bag by up to 33%. This new $40 rate is the highest of any legacy airline. You can slash this increase in half by prepaying your bag online through the American Airlines website or app… or you can avoid it entirely by holding an AAdvantage credit card or Oneworld elite status.
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