Although passengers loathe them, airlines love them — and it's easy to see why, thanks to a new government report: U.S. airlines collected $3.4 billion from checked baggage fees in 2010, the U.S. Department of Transportation announced yesterday. Additionally, they collected $2.3 billion in reservation change fees. All told, therefore, U.S. airlines accumulated almost $5.7 billion in fees
* last year.
*Note: These are only fees paid by passengers that the government can identify separately; all other fees paid by passengers are included in larger categories with other types of revenue.