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Aug 13, 2008 3:18 pm US/Central

American Changes Military Personnel Bag Fee Policy

Reporting
Steve Pickett

FORT WORTH (CBS 11 News) ―

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American Airlines has changes its military bag fee policy. The Fort-Worth based carrier will now waive the fee for a third checked bag.

American had always waived fees for the first and second checked bags of active military personnel, traveling on duty.

The previous policy allowed service members to check one 100-pound bag, one 50-pound bag, and board with a 40-pound carry-on. Service members had to pay $100 for checking a third bag; a fee that was reimbursed by the military.

Uproar over the fee began after charged two Texas soldiers were charged $100 and $300 respectively for checking extra duffel bags.

Last week the Veterans of Foreign Wars sent a letter to the Air Transport Association asking the industry to waive the excess bag fees for armed forces members.

VFW officials said service members, in this particularly case those headed for Iraq, should not have to spend money out-of-pocket and then worry about filing expense forms in a war zone.

In a press release statement American's Senior Vice President of Airport Services, Tom Del Valle, said, "We always understood that soldiers traveling on duty were reimbursed by the military for the fees on required excess baggage. However, after recently hearing of the burden the military reimbursement process put on soldiers traveling to war zones, the choice for us to forgo payment for a third checked bag from the Department of Defense was clear."

American Airlines officials said they support more than 29 separate veterans or active military initiatives and that their company has the most liberal military bag policy of any U.S. airline.

The new waiver policy for military personnel begins immediately.

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