2010 Airline Baggage Fees Will Surpass $3 Billion

Delta is on pace to make nearly $1 billion in baggage fees in 2010, and so far this year, it has already raked more ancillary fees than US Airways, Continental and Alaska Air combined.

Delta, the nation's top airline, has come under scrutiny recently from consumer groups miffed about what their perceive as price gouging. Don't hate the player, folks. Hate the game.

As our friends at 24/7 Wall St. point out, Delta is no lone offender. Just about every airline except, notably, for Southwest, charges baggage fees that have so far amounted to an additional $2.6 billion in 2010 revenue for carriers.

Here's the chart (click to enlarge):

Douglas A. McIntyre notes: "The airline industry finally caught on to the fact that it had lost money for decades for a number of reasons which include high fuel and labor costs. It never occurred to the industry that the way to offset costs and boost profits was to charge passengers for nearly everything they do."

Read the full story at 24/7 Wall St.