United to charge $30 round trip for checked bags

United Airlines plans to start charging customers $30 round trip to check one bag on domestic flights and will boost the fees on other baggage beginning with airline tickets purchased Friday.

The fee to check three or more bags, overweight bags or items that require special handling will increase from $100 to $125 or from $200 to $250, depending on the item, the airline said in announcing the changes Thursday.

“With record-breaking fuel prices, we must pursue new revenue opportunities, while continuing to offer competitive fares, by tailoring our products and services around what our customers value most and are willing to pay for,” said John Tague, executive vice president and chief operating officer, in a released statement.

The changes apply to customers traveling within the United States and to and from Canada, Puerto Rico and the U.S. Virgin Islands for travel on or after Aug. 18.

United estimates the new $15 service fee will apply to one out of three customers. The potential revenue from baggage handling service fees is expected to be roughly $275 million a year.

United began charging $25 for customers checking a second bag earlier this year.

Airlines have been scrambling to cut costs and increase revenue to cope with rapidly rising fuel prices. A gallon of jet fuel now costs about 77 percent more than it did a year ago.

A number of airlines recently laid out sweeping plans to cut jobs, slash flights and ground dozens of less efficient planes. Carriers hope they can push fares even higher by reducing the number of available seats in the air.

American, the biggest U.S. carrier, last month raised the stakes in the industry’s effort to push more costs onto consumers when it became the first major carrier to say it would start charging some fliers $15 to check the first bag. The Fort Worth, Texas-based airline also raised a number of other charges.

‘‘Even when we raised fees a couple of weeks ago, we said that wasn’t the only thing we were doing, that we would still be trying to recoup fuel costs through fare increases,’’ spokesman Tim Wagner said earlier this month. ‘‘The (fuel cost) increase is so incredible, we have to find a way to pass it on.’’

American’s new baggage charge is scheduled to take effect on tickets bought on or after June 15. The carrier last week said the $15 fee would affect fewer than one in four customers this summer and won’t lengthen lines at boarding gates.

Contributing: AP