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Airlines charge $566M in baggage fees

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Luggage travels down a baggage claim at at Ronald Regan National Airport in Arlington, Virginia on November 21, 2007. Today is expected to be the busiest travel day of the year with an estimated 38.7 million U.S. residents expected to travel 50 miles or more for the holiday. (UPI Photo/Kevin Dietsch) 
Published: June 16, 2009 at 1:02 PM

WASHINGTON, June 16 (UPI) -- Baggage fees charged by U.S. airlines reaped $566.3 million for the carriers in the first quarter of 2009, transportation department officials said.

Statistics released Monday by the U.S. Department of Transportation showed the fee collections were up 362 percent from the year-earlier quarter, the last period before airlines were allowed to charge for the first and second bags checked by passengers, The Tulsa (Okla.) World reported.

Airlines collected $498.6 million in baggage fees in the last quarter of 2008, the department said.

The newspaper reported that American Airlines collected $108.1 million in baggage fees in the first quarter, the most of any U.S. carrier, followed by Delta Air Lines at $102.8 million; US Airways at $94.2 million; Northwest Airlines at $59.8 million; and United Airlines at $59.1 million.

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