American Airlines Removes Oversize Bag Fees For Sports & Music Equipment

American Airlines has announced that they are removing oversize bag fees for sports & music equipment effective immediately. A few things to note:

  • Oversize bags will count towards a customers normal baggage allowance
  • Some items have special handling requirements and will still be subject to the $150 fee, this includes items such as hang gliders, scuba tanks and kite/wind surfing items

Very nice change here by American Airlines, I’m sure surfers and skiers/snowboarders will be particularly happy with these changes.

Subscribe
Notify of
guest

12 Comments
newest
oldest most voted

John
John (@guest_761758)
May 22, 2019 03:32

Hi Will,

I thought this was a good change for skiing but the more I read it, the more I realize nothing has changed for the better. AA and all the other airlines have always counted skis and boots as one item towards a regular bag. Now they have explicitly stated that you can ONLY have these equipment in the bags and anything else (such as clothes) in the bag will cost you extra. That’s worse in my opinion.

jnrfalcon
jnrfalcon (@guest_761745)
May 22, 2019 01:27

bike???

Will
Will (@guest_761690)
May 21, 2019 22:33

wow I just assumed that since Delta doesn’t charge, no major airline would

Sean
Sean (@guest_761701)
May 21, 2019 22:51

These fees are all totally ridiculous. It’s not even worth bringing a bike when you’re going to get hit $150 each way. Southwest and Jetblue were the only voices of reason on this front and even still you’d end up paying $75 and $50

pbjclimbing
pbjclimbing (@guest_761682)
May 21, 2019 22:14

Bicycles are included in the new rule which is great.

r m h
r m h (@guest_761703)
May 21, 2019 22:54

is there no limitation on linear dimensions of a bicycle box?

PedroNY
PedroNY (@guest_761762)
May 22, 2019 04:35

I read through the announcement, so no more $150 for bicycles? I didn’t see it explicitly mentioned. That is great to hear.

Cheers,

PedroNY

Matt P
Matt P (@guest_761658)
May 21, 2019 21:14

Meh, rich people hobbies shouldn’t get a break. It should only be for legitimate sportsman but that’s hard to enforce.

Chant
Chant (@guest_761673)
May 21, 2019 21:53

How come surfing/skiing/snowboarding rich people hobbies? It has more to do with locations rather than wealthiness.

Matt P
Matt P (@guest_761933)
May 22, 2019 14:13

Skiing is definitely a rich person hobby. Have you seen the prices to buy/rent the gear, pay for the lifts, go to a resort, etc?