In a recent post at the Church of the Customer Blog, Jackie Huba offers a few quick stats about airline revenues in September '09. First, a couple of positives: Southwest reported an 8.8% increase in revenue passenger miles and JetBlue recorded 9.8% jump in passenger miles.

Then come the negatives:

• Delta: Down 5% on its mainline operation
• American: Down 2.6% domestically
• US Airways: Down 6.8% domestically
• United: Down 6.1% domestically

Huba identifies a single factor that she says is setting Southwest and JetBlue above the clouds. Why are they soaring while other airlines are apparently in a nosedive? Hold on to your seat:

"No bag-fee charges," she says.

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