I suppose it was only a matter of time. With most of the other major airlines already on the charge-for-luggage-so-we-could-stay-in-business bandwagon, Northwest caved in to the peer pressure.

Northwest Airlines announced Wednesday that it will begin charging passengers $15 for the first piece of checked baggage. The new policy applies to tickets that were sold from July 10 and on, for travel beginning Aug 28. This new rule is in effect throughout the U.S. as well as for travel between the U.S. and Canada. The fee for a second checked bag will be $25 and $100 for three or more bags.

Northwest also announced that the fee to change your ticket is rising from $100 to $150 per ticket. It doesn't stop there, however: they are also going to begin charging to issue awards tickets for their frequent flier program, Worldperks. It will now cost $25 to issue a domestic ticket, $50 for trans-Atlantic, and $100 for trans-Pacific travel. (To see all the new Worldperks charges, click here.) To make it a fee issuing party, they are now going to charge $25 to make reservations by phone.

With extensive financial losses due to skyrocketing fuel costs, Northwest hopes to generate upwards of $300 million a year with these new policies...that should buy a heap of fuel.