US Airways to Charge for FIRST Checked Bag

US Airways to Charge $15 for your FIRST Checked Bag:

The new fee goes into effect for tickets booked on or after July 9, 2008, and will apply to all flights within the U.S., to/from Canada, Latin America,and the Caribbean.

The airline will waive the fee for its most frequent customers including:

• all Dividend Miles Preferred members (Silver, Gold, Platinum and Chairman's Preferred),             
• confirmed First Class and Envoy passengers at time of check in;
• and Star Alliance Silver and Gold status members.

The following customers will also be exempt from paying the fee:

• military personnel on active duty,
• unaccompanied minors;
• and passengers checking assistive devices.

US Airways also announced today that they will charge $2 for water, soda, coffee and juice starting in August.