• Spiking jet fuel prices have left airlines looking for ways to recoup their extra costs.
• Many airlines have already increased ticket prices, and now some are bumping checked bag fees.
• Delta Air Lines said it will increase fees for first and second checked bags by $10 from Wednesday.

Travelers are feeling the pinch from the war in Iran.

Many airlines have already increased ticket prices and introduced fuel surcharges, but now there's a new target: checked bags.

Three major US airlines have increased baggage fees in recent days as soaring jet fuel prices have left them scrambling to offset skyrocketing costs.

The US and Israel's war on Iran has caused supply chain disruptions, leading to a surge in jet fuel prices, which has tightened margins for airlines.

Flight prices are rising as a result, and some airlines have already canceled — or are planning to cancel — flights due to the jet fuel shortages.

See which airlines have increased their fees for checked luggage:

Delta Air Lines

Delta Air Lines will increase fees for first and second checked bags by $10 from Wednesday, according to a statement shared with Business Insider.

For the third checked bag, fees will increase by $50. The changes apply to domestic and select short-haul international routes, and will not impact long-haul international flights or complimentary bag benefits, the airline said.

"These updates are part of Delta's ongoing review of pricing across its business and reflect the impact of evolving global conditions and industry dynamics," Delta said in the statement on Tuesday.

United Airlines

United Airlines said on Friday that it was raising the fees for first and second checked bags by $10. Like Delta, it said it will charge an extra $50 for third bags.

The airline said in a previously shared statement to Business Insider that this would apply to "customers traveling in the US, Mexico, and Canada and Latin America beginning with tickets purchased Friday, April 3."

JetBlue

JetBlue increased its checked baggage fees at the end of March.

The price of a first checked bag for a domestic flight has risen to $39 from $35 on non-peak days, and to $49 from $40 on peak travel days.

In a previous statement to Business Insider, the airline did not directly reference rising fuel prices as the reason for the fee increase, though it did note that its operating costs are rising.

"As we experience rising operating costs, we regularly evaluate how to manage those costs while keeping base fares competitive and continuing to invest in the experience our customers value," a spokesperson for JetBlue previously told Business Insider.

• Houston and Atlanta airports are warning travelers of four-hour security lines.
• Delta, United, and Allegiant have waived some fees to give passengers rebooking flexibility.
• TSA agents have been calling out of work as they aren't being paid due to a government shutdown.

Some airlines are waiving change fees for passengers affected by hourslong waits at airport security.

Delta Air Lines, United Airlines, and Allegiant have issued advisories giving travelers more flexibility during the ongoing travel chaos. Most airlines eliminated most change fees after the COVID pandemic, but many still charge them for changes to basic fares.

Due to a partial government shutdown, TSA agents have been working without pay since February 14. As a result, more of them have been calling out of work.

As many as 10% of all TSA agents called out on several days last week, the Department of Homeland Security said. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents have been deployed to some major airports.

The shutdown persists as Republicans and Democrats are at loggerheads over funding for the DHS. Republicans want to allocate billions more to ICE, but Democrats want it to be reformed in the wake of January's violence in Minnesota.

Here are the airlines that are offering waivers:

Delta Air Lines

In a travel advisory, Delta said that travel from its main hub, Atlanta's Hartsfield-Jackson International, "may be affected" by longer security wait times. The airport is advising passengers to allow at least 4 hours for domestic and international screenings.

Delta customers flying from Atlanta on Monday or Tuesday can rebook to travel on or before March 30, and the fare difference will be waived.

Within a year of the ticket being issued, passengers could rebook without a change fee but would still need to pay the fare difference. Or, they could apply any unused value of the ticket toward the purchase of a new one.

A Delta spokesperson said this only applies for people on flights originating from Atlanta, not connecting through the hub.

United Airlines

United issued an alert for Houston's George Bush Intercontinental Airport, saying travel "may be affected."

Tickets purchased on or before Sunday, for travel on Monday or Tuesday, can be rescheduled for a United flight until March 31. "Tickets must be in the same cabin and between the same cities as originally booked."

The airline didn't immediately respond to a request for comment on whether this was directly related to TSA staffing shortages. A banner on the airport's website on Tuesday said security wait times could exceed 4 hours.

Allegiant Air

Allegiant announced a "travel with confidence" policy that allows customers with new and existing tickets through the end of the partial government shutdown to change or cancel their flights at no extra charge.

This includes "no change fees for eligible bookings" and the "option to cancel and receive a refund without penalty."

JetBlue

"With the exception of Blue Basic, all JetBlue fares are flexible — meaning no change or cancellation fees for customers who want to adjust their travel plans ahead of time," an airline spokesperson told Business Insider.

Customers who miss their flight due to long security lines will be rebooked on the next available flight, they added.

JetBlue advises customers to arrive earlier than normal, and said that it's working closely with TSA and continues to monitor the situation.

Southwest

Southwest said it is rebooking passengers who miss their flights due to long TSA lines at no cost.

The airline added that customers are also being offered change waivers and that it's "accepting checked bags well in advance of scheduled flights."

• Southwest Airlines will no longer serve Chicago O'Hare and Washington Dulles starting June 4.
• It will still fly from Chicago Midway, Baltimore/Washington International, and Reagan National.
• Midway and Baltimore are Southwest hubs, but it has a small presence at O'Hare and Dulles.

Southwest Airlines is retreating to its strongholds.

It announced late last week that it will no longer fly from Chicago O'Hare and Washington Dulles Airports starting June 4.

The move is part of its "ongoing efforts to refine its network," it added.

However, it said there won't be any "significant changes" to flight availability from the cities because it's still operating at other nearby airports: Chicago Midway (MDW), Baltimore/Washington International (BWI), and Washington Reagan National (DCA).

O'Hare and Dulles are both popular international airports, ranked third and 22nd in the US, respectively, by passenger numbers. That heightened competition drives up operating costs and gate fees, which isn't ideal for a budget carrier like Southwest.

Meanwhile, Midway is a major hub for Southwest. It carries over 90% of passengers there, according to the Bureau of Transportation Statistics.

Data from the aviation analytics firm Cirium shows over 6,000 Southwest flights scheduled from there this month. That's more than 13 times as many as from O'Hare.

"We are confident we can serve Chicagoland from our long-standing base at Midway, where we will continue to offer service to more than 80 destinations, including the 15 markets we serve from O'Hare," the airline said.

It comes as United Airlines and American Airlines are fighting for dominance at O'Hare. The former is increasing its flight schedule and working to acquire two gates from Spirit Airlines' bankruptcy proceedings.

Southwest said that operating from O'Hare "continues to be challenging." It only started flights there in 2021.

In and around the nation's capital, the airline is similarly exiting an airport where it has a weaker presence.

Cirium data shows just 93 Southwest flights scheduled from Dulles this month: Twice daily to Denver, and once a day to Phoenix.

United Airlines is the main player there with a majority of the market share.

Meanwhile, Southwest operates nearly three-quarters of flights from Baltimore. It's the second-biggest airline at Reagan National, behind American on 27%, according to the Bureau of Transportation Statistics.

Southwest said it is "the largest carrier in the Washington area in terms of passengers carried."

It will offer up to 271 departures to 79 nonstop destinations from DCA and BWI, it added.

Frontline employees at O'Hare and Dulles will be able to bid for positions at other airports where Southwest operates, the airline said.

• War in the Middle East has pushed fuel costs, and therefore airfares, sharply higher.
• Business Insider charted the increase in ticket prices for three major flight paths in recent weeks.
• Fares from New York to LA, New York to London, and from the US mainland to the Caribbean have jumped.

Your next flight could be twice as expensive because the Iran war is causing volatility in oil prices.

Brent crude is up more than 50% over the past month, to around $101 a barrel. Jet fuel costs are rising faster. The Argus US Jet Fuel Index is up 72% over the same period.

That spells difficulty for airlines because jet fuel is typically their biggest expense after labor. While many airlines around the world hedge against fuel costs, most American ones do not.

Using data from Deutsche Bank, Business Insider charted rising airfares in three major markets.

The data looks at the lowest available published fares 21 days in advance of the flights. The published fare doesn't necessarily mean a ticket has been purchased for that amount, the Deutsche Bank research analysts said.

Cross-country flights, often known in the industry as transcontinental flights, have seen the biggest week-over-week spike — more than double, on average.

New York to Los Angeles is the country's busiest domestic route, with a capacity of 3.4 million seats out of JFK Airport last year, according to OAG data.

The average price of a transcontinental flight has risen from $167 to $414, Deutsche Bank's analysis showed. In the past week, the average has spiked 107%.

United Airlines is offering flights from Washington Dulles Airport to San Francisco for $502, up from $149 a month ago.

International business travellers are also seeing flight prices rise.

New York to London is the country's most popular international route, and the 10th-busiest in the world. Nearly 4 million seats were scheduled on flights between JFK and Heathrow last year, per OAG.

While the average Transatlantic flight is some 40% more expensive than a month ago, there are bigger rises for the New York-London route. However, it also appears more volatile here with a big dip last week.

Delta Air Lines' service is up from $285 to $553 over the past month, while United's is up to $846. That's a 177% rise compared to a week earlier, according to Deutsche Bank's analysis.

There's bad news for vacationers, too.

Flights to the Caribbean on March 27 are up 58% on average compared to a week before.

JetBlue's flight from New York to Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic, has risen from $165 to $566 on March 27.

Compared to a year earlier, that's a more than fourfold rise, Deutsche Bank found.

Southwest Airlines' flight from Baltimore to Montego Bay, Jamaica, has more than doubled over the past week. And Alaska Airlines' service from Los Angeles to San Jose, Costa Rica, is up 40% compared to a week earlier or 120% versus a year ago.