This month Canada’s top two airlines followed the rest of the airline industry with new baggage fees.
First WestJet announced it will charge a $25 fee for a first checked bag on “Econo” fares for travel within Canada and between Canada and the United-States. The first bag is still free of charge for all other destinations. The new fee takes effect on new booking departing after October 29, 2014.
Just days after WestJet’s announcement, Air Canada followed suit. Their fee applies to those passengers booking the lowest economy-class Tango fares for new bookings departing as of Nov. 2, 2014.
Air Canada announced that the change was made to “align it with prevailing North American industry practices”.
You can see the Air Canada announcement here and the WestJet announcement here.
The first Canadian Airline to bring this into practice for domestic flights was Porter, back in May, and this proactive is the norm in the US on almost all carriers.