Delta to charge $3 fee to check bags at curbside

TAMPA -- Delta Air Lines will charge customers $3 a bag to check luggage at curbside, the airline said Friday.

The fee takes effect Tuesday at Tampa International and 10 other major airports, then rolls out at 75 more cities nationwide April 15.

"It's a business decision that reflects today's competitive landscape and cost pressures,'' said spokeswoman Susan Elliott.

Delta and Continental Airlines are the only major carriers that don't charge for curbside check-in. But Delta's fee will be $1 a bag higher than charges at American Airlines, United, Northwest and US Airways. The fee will be waived for the airline's elite-level customers, first-class and business-class fliers, and passengers who check in online.

Will the fee drive passengers from curbside to the ticket counter? "With the baby, probably not,'' said Peggy Braitsch, flying home to Cincinnati from Tampa on Friday with her 20-month-old granddaugher, Mary, in a stroller. "For me? It probably would have.''

One group certainly won't like the change: Prospect of Tampa skycaps working for Delta. Airlines keep the curbside check-in fees. Skycaps say the charges cut into their tips and reduce the number of bags checked at the curb. A group of skycaps in Boston has sued American Airlines, seeking restitution for lost tips.

-- Steve Huettel, Times staff writer

Comments

[mike]

You're already in trouble! Do you think raising prices will help?

[Matt]

I'd like to get upset at this, but the Chasco Fiesta banner ad constantly hanging around the bottom of my screen designed solely to bring additional revenue to the St. Pete Times in competitive times for print media kinda makes the point moot.

[Aaron]

Matt, I guess the "Daliwood" opening on the homepage wasn't obnoxious enough......

[Enzo]

No banner ads if you're a print subscriber...

[anti]

...WHY pay 35 cents for a paper? It is easier to pop on for the major news..I am ALREADY paying for internet.For any real paper-reading enjoyment I click on "others".And I agree..the ads are obnoxious...almost as much as Lundsford's lawyer.

[Simon]

I actually had a legitimate insight, but that banner distracted me and now I forgot what it was. Something about TPA's drop off point.