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Passengers are learning to accept airline bag fees, survey finds

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Baggage fees are still a source of anger, but passengers are more accepting of them, according to a survey on airline satisfaction.

In fact, overall satisfaction with air travel has increased to the highest level since 2006, according to the J.D. Power & Associates airline satisfaction study for 2013.

Airline satisfaction improved to 695 points on a 1,000-point scale, up 14 points from 2012, according to the study, which measured satisfaction on such factors as cost, in-flight services, boarding and flight crew.

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The gap in overall satisfaction between passengers who pay for baggage and those who do not pay narrowed to 63 points in 2013, compared with a gap of 85 points in 2012 and 100 points in 2011, according to the survey of more than 11,800 passenger.

“Charging for bags still has a pronounced negative impact on passenger satisfaction, but with each year, passengers are increasingly more accepting of carriers unbundling baggage and other fees,” said Ramez Faza, a senior manager at J.D. Power & Associates.

Alaska Airlines received the highest ranking among traditional airlines, with JetBlue getting the highest score among low-cost carriers, according to the survey.

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