Folks who check in at the curb for a flight on Delta Air Lines today might want to carry some extra cash, because its going to cost $3 to check each bag.

[ Submit your comments below. ]

The new fee is one of a several new or higher fees the airline is adding to the cost of travel as it struggles to offset soaring jet fuel costs. Many of the fees or increases take effect today. However, starting May 1, Delta also plans to begin charging $50 a round trip for checking a second bag.

Delta is imposing new or higher fees on a host of travelers, including frequent fliers, passengers traveling with pets and people booking their tickets over the phone.

"Desperate people do desperate things," said Minneapolis airline expert Terry Trippler.

Betsy Talton, a spokeswoman for Delta, said the additional fees are largely in response to fuel prices and said that the most recent attempts by Delta to raise fares "have not been successful because there's also a need for Delta to be competitive."

Talton said Delta continually reviews all aspects of its business "to make sure our business model is aligned with current costs."

She said she did not know how much extra revenue the airline expected to generate annually from the fee changes.

Delta's decision to add the $3-per-bag fee for curbside check-in follows the airlines' move on March 1 to hand off its skycap jobs at the Atlanta and Los Angeles airports to workers at a lower-paying subsidiary. At the time, Delta was rumored to be planning a per-bag fee of $2, in line with other airlines' fees. Delta will charge no additional fee if bags are checked inside the terminal.

One of today's changes most likely to rankle frequent fliers is a $25 "handling charge" for any Delta award ticket booked through a Delta representative that includes a segment on another airline. In the past, people who redeemed their Delta SkyMiles for free tickets on partner carriers such as Northwest and Continental did not pay a "handling charge," whether they booked on the phone or online.

The fee for booking an award ticket on another airline through a Delta representative helps Delta recoup charges from the other airline, Talton said. Booking Delta award travel on another airline will not carry the new $25 fee if done online.

The "handling charge" would be on top of the fee Delta charges for booking travel over the telephone, which is increasing today to $25 from $20.

Delta will also boost its fee if a traveler cancels a trip that was to be paid for with Skymiles and redeposits the miles. That fee jumps to $100 from $75.

It was not clear whether Delta's partner carriers will impose a "handling charge" on their frequent fliers booking award tickets on Delta.

If a traveler has to cancel a regular domestic trip rather than a SkyMiles award ticket, the fee to reissue a ticket jumps to $100 from $75. There's also an extra fee to reissue tickets bought from an outside travel agency; it increases to $30 from $20.

Delta also said carrying a pet in the cabin will cost $100 instead of $75, starting today. The fee for transporting a pet in the cargo area rather than in the cabin jumps to $200 from $150.

Want a one-day pass to Delta's airport lounges? It rises to $30 from $25. The oversize-bag fee will be $150 instead of $100. The unaccompanied-minor fee will be $100 on all flights instead of $50 for nonstop flights and $100 for connecting flights.

Staff writer Russell Grantham and The Associated Press contributed to this article.