Which credit cards come with free checked bags on your flight

By Carly Coombs | Posted: October 2, 2025

When flying, baggage fees can add up, with airlines like Delta or American charging around $35 for your first bag and budget airlines like Frontier charging up to $75 for a checked bag. 

If you’re looking for a way to get around baggage fees, many credit cards include free checked bags as part of the card’s benefits. Most cards that offer this benefit are co-branded with a specific airline and only offer free bags for the airline the card is associated with. 

If you often fly with multiple different airlines, some travel credit cards, such as Capital One, have travel credit benefits or travel expense “eraser” benefits that allow you to redeem points on your travel purchases, including baggage fees. 

Here’s a look at which cards can help you save on baggage fees: 

Delta Airlines 

Delta has several different co-branded credit cards with American Express that offer free baggage when you fly Delta. 

The checked bag benefit is available to customers who hold a Delta SkyMiles Platinum, Gold, or Reserve card, including the business card version of each. (The Delta SkyMiles Blue card does not include a free checked bag.) 

For each of the cards, you’ll get one free checked bag per person on a Delta flight that is booked using one of the credit cards. 

United Airlines 

There are various options if you want bag fees waived for United Airlines flights, with some cards varying slightly in their bag benefits.

If you’re looking to get at least one bag free, the United Explorer and United Business cards offer one free checked bag for the cardholder and a travel companion. 

If you’re looking for two free checked bags while traveling, the United Quest, United Club, and United Club Business cards get two free checked bags for you and a companion. The United Gateway card also offers two free checked bags if you spend $10,000 on the card within a calendar year. 

Southwest Airlines 

For Southwest, any of the airline’s co-branded Southwest Rapid Rewards cards will include one free checked bag for cardholders and up to eight other passengers. This includes the Rapid Rewards Plus, Premier, and Priority cards and the Rapid Rewards Premier Business and Performance Business cards. 

Hawaiian & Alaska Airlines 

Since Hawaiian and Alaska Airlines have merged, credit cards with either airline typically provide benefits on both Hawaiian and Alaska-operated flights. 

Recently, Alaska Airlines launched its new Atmos Rewards program, which brings the Alaska and Hawaiian rewards programs under one umbrella. With that, Alaska has rebranded some of its credit cards. 

With the new rewards program, the airline now has the Atmos Reward Ascent, Atmos Rewards Summit, and Atmos Rewards Business cards. All three cards offer one free checked bag on Alaska and Hawaiian flights for the cardholder and up to six guests. 

Hawaiian Airlines still has its Hawaiian Airlines World Elite card, which gives two free checked bags on Hawaiian and Alaska flights. (The business version of this card does not include free checked bags.)

American Airlines   

For American Airlines fans, there are three AA-branded credit cards that include checked bag benefits — AAdvantage Executive World Elite, AAdvantage Platinum Select World Elite, and AAdvantage Business World Elite.

Each of these cards includes one free checked bag on an American Airlines flight purchased with the card. For the AAdvantage Executive World Elite, it also includes bags for up to eight travel companions, while the other two cards only provide free bags for up to four companions.

JetBlue 

JetBlue has three different cards that provide one free checked bag on your JetBlue flight: the JetBlue Plus, JetBlue Premier, and JetBlue Business cards. 

Each of these cards also allows for free baggage for up to three travel companions.

Frontier Airlines 

Frontier’s baggage fees are typically much higher than those of other airlines, with the price increasing the later you decide to purchase the bag. And since Frontier is a low-cost carrier, carry-on bags also carry a fee, adding to the baggage costs. 

If you want to enjoy Frontier’s low fares but not dish out money for bag fees, the airline does have its Frontier World credit card that includes two free checked bags with each Frontier flight. 

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