I would give up my firstborn to avoid baggage fees. Seriously. Especially if I'm traveling with more than two items.
The Points Guy reports there are plenty of credit card/airline combinations that give holders the benefit of one or more free checked bags. Typically it's one free bag for the cardholder and one guest. Some cards extend the offer to as many as nine additional guests, or even two free checked bags.
Here's a chart of what baggage benefits cards have with different airlines:
| Airline | Free Bags | Additional Passengers Also Covered |
Card |
| Alaska | 1 | 6 | Bank of America: Alaska Visa Signature Card |
| American | 1 | 4 | Citi/AAdvantage Platinum Select |
| 1 | 4 | CitiBusiness/AAdvantage Platinum Select | |
| 1 | 8 | Citi/AAdvantage Executive World Elite MasterCard | |
| 1 | 4 | Barclay Aviator Red | |
| 1 | 4 | Barclay Aviator Business | |
| 1 | 8 | Barclay Aviator Silver | |
| Delta | 1 | 9 | American Express Gold Delta SkyMiles Credit Card |
| 1 | 9 | American Express Platinum Delta SkyMiles Credit Card | |
| 1 | 9 | American Express Delta Reserve Credit Card | |
| Hawaiian | 1 | 0 | Hawaiian Airlines Barclaycard World Elite MasterCard |
| United | 1 | 1 | Chase United MileagePlus Explorer Card |
| 1 | 1 | Chase United MileagePlus Business Card | |
| 2 | 1 | Chase United MileagePlus Club Card | |
| Virgin America | 1 | 1 | Virgin America Visa Signature Card |
| 1 | 1 | Virgin America Premium Visa Signature Card |
