Flight prices may be better than ever, but their fees are another story. Recently, American Airlines and British Airways started issuing a fee for transferring checked bags.


American Airlines and British Airways, along with their affiliates, will start charging a transfer fee for checked bags when a flight is booked with two separate tickets: A press release from American explains:

American will ‘through-check’ bags when separate tickets have been issued for travel on the following carriers: American Airlines and American Eagle



oneworld partner airline and affiliates

American is unable to ‘through-check’ bags when the customer has 2 separate tickets when traveling on American and non-oneworld carriers. This results in airport check-in representatives collecting the required baggage fees based on each airline’s established policies.


As Time.com’s Money section points out, United has a similar policy. If you book your connecting flights on the same ticket, you don’t have anything to worry about. Sometimes, though, it’s cheaper to book two separate tickets, and if you do, you can expect your bag transfer to be a little more difficult, and a little more expensive. For more detail, head to the links below.

British Airways, American Airlines, and their alliance partners in June started to limit your ability to pay that single bag-transfer fee. For many carriers now, when you change planes, you must collect your checked bags, go through security again, and pay a second time for the next leg of your trip.

3 New Reasons Those Maddening Airline Fees Are Here to Stay | Money

Photo by Eric Salard