Northwest Cutting 2,500 Jobs, Charging for 1st Checked Bag

Bad news just keeps rolling in the battered airline industry. Northwest Airlines said today it would lay off 2,500 workers and start charging $15 for the first checked bag for tickets sold starting tomorrow for travel starting Aug. 28.

Northwest is also adding a charge for mileage-award tickets for travel starting Sept. 15 -- $25 for domestic; $50 for trans-Atlantic and $100 for trans-Pacific.

And starting tomorrow, the charge for making changes on nonrefundable tickets will rise to $150 from $100.

Northwest didn't specify where the layoffs would occur except to say that "all NWA employee groups will be affected." Here is the full announcement.

This time around, there's no indication that Northwest is sending out money-saving tips for employees about to lose their jobs. Who can forget that astonishing stunt in the summer of 2006, when Northwest sent soon-to-be laid-off employees the infamous Dumpster Diving brochure with tips on "101 Ways to Save Money" such as, "Put money aside in a special piggy bank" ... and "Take a shorter shower" ... and "Don't be shy about pulling something you like out of the trash."

Here’s a copy of that particular human-resources beauty, which Northwest said it had outsourced:

dumpster-dive.pdf

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