The news is buried at the bottom of a Reuters story: A JetBlue spokesman says the airline will continue its policy which allows passengers to check their first bag for free.
That tidbit emerged as five airlines, including JetBlue, pledged to New York Senator Charles Schumer that they won't match Spirit Airlines new policy to charge consumers up to $45 for carry-on bags. The five airlines are JetBlue, American Airlines, Delta Air Lines, United Airlines and US Airways.
JetBlue spokesman Mateo Lleras says the airline has never charged for a checked bag or carry-on items and has "no plans to do so at this point."
With JetBlue and Southwest Airlines among the lone holdouts in not charging a fee for the first checked bag, there had been a lot of speculation that JetBlue would join the crowd and begin charging for a first checked bag.
After all, JetBlue had transitioned early this year to the SabreSonic reservations system, a move that would help the airline implement new ancillary services and establish new codeshares.
Another thing that helped feed the speculation is that, unlike Southwest, JetBlue has not been aggressive about promoting its free, first-checked bag policy.
However, a link from the JetBlue homepage now trumpets its First Bag Free policy. Might a JetBlue commercial -- perhaps along the lines of Southwest's ad -- be on the agenda?
JetBlue indeed may have some new ancillary services -- i.e. unbundled services with a fee attached -- in the works because a Sabre spokeswoman says a carrier-direct settlement mechanism will be in place for JetBlue "in the coming weeks."
Sabre previously implemented carrier-direct settlement systems with Midwest, United and WestJet when they began offering optional services on their websites.
Meanwhile, Schumer appears to be succeeding with his campaign to head off any trend toward carry-on bag fees among major airlines. He says he will keep up his efforts and solicit promises from additional airlines not to charge for carry-ons.
Failing that, Schumer says he would propose legislation that would declare carry-on bags essential items for travel and thereby prohibit the fees.
So far, Spirit has not backed down on its pending carry-on fees.
Carry-on bag fees or not, charges for optional services, including meals, on airlines have become the norm.
However, there is no word yet whether any airlines on Schumer's speed-dial have pledged to begin offering the senator's favorite sandwich, known as the Schumwich.
What would the GDS code be for a Schumwich with extra pickles?