Passengers wait in the WestJet check-in area at Toronto Pearson International Airport.Christopher Katsarov/The Canadian Press
WestJet has hiked baggage fees amid soaring jet fuel prices, marking its third increase in two-and-a-half years.
As of Thursday, customers will pay an extra $5 each for the first and second bag checked in advance, and an extra $10 each for the first and second bag checked at the airport, the Calgary-based airline said in an e-mail.
Passengers with overweight or oversized luggage will also pay $50 more than before.
“These updates are due to industry revenue trends as well as impacts from current global conditions,” said WestJet spokesperson Jen Booth.
Air Transat latest airline to cut flight capacity, citing high jet fuel costs
The decision mimics Air Canada’s move last week to raise baggage fees, which will increase to $45 from $35 for the first checked bag in its basic economy class on domestic, U.S. and sun destination flights.
Rewards program members will continue to receive a $5 baggage fee discount on the first prepaid checked bag.
The pricier policies are among a slate of measures including fuel surcharges, higher fares and scaled-back flight schedules that airlines in Canada and across the globe have implemented in a bid to offset the high cost of fuel triggered by the war launched by the U.S. and Israel against Iran nearly two months ago.
Amid a shaky ceasefire, Air Canada last week announced it would suspend a half-dozen routes, citing fuel costs that render them unprofitable.
On Monday, WestJet laid out flight capacity cuts from April through June – that month’s reduction will reach 6 per cent.
Transat said Wednesday it would axe about 1,000 flights thanks to energy shocks triggered by the ongoing closure of the Strait of Hormuz, which typically carries about a fifth of the world’s oil.
Jet fuel prices shot up at an even faster pace than crude oil amid the threat of massive shortages as the closure drags on and refineries in the Persian Gulf deal with damage from Iranian attacks. On Thursday, the price of jet fuel from the U.S. Gulf Coast sat at roughly double prewar levels.