American Airlines on Wednesday announced the latest new fee for passengers -- $15 to check the first bag, starting June 15. That came after American and other carriers, including US Airways, earlier this year began charging $25 to check a second bag.

Thanks to the airline industry's move toward "a la carte pricing," some passengers could pay more than $100 in extra fees -- all for services once covered by the ticket price.

Just in time for summer, US Airways this month began charging the second-bag fee and a new fee for reserving prime seats on a flight. Charlotte's dominant carrier installed a $2 airport skycap fee last year and charges passengers for food and earphones in the passenger cabin.

Add it up, and travelers may want to have cash and a credit card handy from the time they get boarding passes to when they land at their destinations -- a prospect that has some passengers grumbling.

"What's next?" asked Meg Nichols, a meeting planner in Charlotte who travels a few times a month. "A charge for bathroom privileges?"

Airlines say the fees have come after many carriers streamlined operations while in bankruptcy or during mergers, then got hit in the past year with record-high fuel costs.

"This is the worst financial and economic condition the airlines have been in since 9-11," said David Castelveter, a spokesman for the Air Transport Association, a trade group for U.S. airlines. "They're looking for other revenue streams."

Some travelers, however, say the airlines are getting greedy by nickel-and-diming their customers even as on-time performance has lagged and consumer complaints have risen. More than 26 percent of U.S. flights arrived late or were canceled last year -- the worst rate since 2000, according to federal statistics.

Based on that, new fees for services once included in the ticket price seem like gouging by airlines, said Jim Kennedy, an insurance agent in Davidson, N.C.

"Is there a way," Kennedy asked via e-mail, "for us to charge them fees or make them pay for lost baggage or late arrivals or canceled flights?"

After the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks curbed air travel, many airlines made "very painful choices," Castelveter said, such as laying off employees, grounding airplanes or going into bankruptcy. The industry recovered, but now, surging oil prices are testing every carrier's bottom line, he said.

This year's total fuel bill, Castelveter said, could be about $60 billion -- nearly four times the amount in 2000. Yet airfares, despite rising in the last few years, are about the same as at the start of the decade, according to federal statistics.

Most customers understand that airlines are wrestling with fuel costs, said Tim Winship, an editor for SmarterTravel.com, a travel Web site. But adding fee after fee only feeds the nickel-and-diming gripes, he said, especially when carriers likely won't roll back the fees if fuel costs drop.

"There's something disingenuous about that whole approach," Winship said. "The airlines have a credibility problem already."

In an employee newsletter last week, US Airways said it expects about $100 million in revenue from the new seating and baggage fees. The Tempe, Ariz.-based carrier also plans to strictly enforce weight limits on checked bags after some agents had waived overweight-baggage fees when check-in lines were long.

"We wouldn't expect to get free DVDs or toilet paper at Target because the line is long," wrote Kerry Hester, vice president of reservations and customer service planning, "and this is the same theory."

Barring any exodus of passengers, a la carte pricing likely is here to stay, Castelveter said. Customers might complain, he said, but they also understand and will adjust accordingly.

"Do you bring two suits on your business trip, or just one?" Castelveter said. "Do you bring three pairs of shoes, or two?"