Alaska Airlines to raise baggage fee

Get ready to spend a little more on baggage fees when you fly Alaska Airlines.

The Seattle carrier will increase the cost of checking your first two bags to $25 each from $20 each, for tickets bought on or after Oct. 30. The fee for your third bag rises to $75 from $20, with the fourth bag rising to $75 from $50.

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The increases bring Alaska in line with the fees charged by some of its bigger airline competitors.

Bag fees generate huge revenue for airlines, with the nation’s 16 largest carriers collecting $3.5 billion in bag fees in 2012, up from $464 million for 22 airlines in 2007, according to the U.S. Bureau of Transportation Statistics.

But Alaska will continue to offer its guarantee that if your bag does not arrive at the baggage claim area within 20 minutes of your flight parking at the gate, the airline will give you a $20 discount toward your next flight or 2,000 miles toward the airline’s loyalty reward program.

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