Peace on earth, good will toward holiday travelers. That seems to be Yahoo’s modus operandi today: The company is paying the baggage fees for all outbound travelers at San Francisco and San Jose international airports. It’s part of the Yahoo for Good campaign, and as local news reports suggest, it’ll probably help build some goodwill among harried holiday travelers.

It’s noteworthy because Yahoo has shut down its offices over the holidays as a cost-cutting measure. But paying for luggage at two busy airports on one of the busiest travel days of the year? That should cost Yahoo a nice, little chunk of change.

Yahoo, Bing, and Google have also been trying to earn goodwill with free WiFi in select locations on a temporary basis. Tis the season to bribe users for their loyalty!

Postscript: Yahoo didn’t tell us the cost of this effort today, but they did clarify how it’s working. A spokesperson called it a “spontaneous effort” that involved Yahoo employees paying the luggage fees of San Jose travelers using the American Airlines ticket counter this morning “because they had flights at the time we were at the airport, and passengers were checking in.” This afternoon, Yahoo employees are at SFO but the spokesperson doesn’t know what airline(s) they’re working with.

Related Topics: Channel: Industry | Yahoo: Business Issues | Yahoo: General | Yahoo: Marketing | Yahoo: Other

About The Author: Matt McGee is Editor-In-Chief of Search Engine Land. His news career includes time spent in TV, radio, and print journalism. His web career continues to include a small number of SEO and social media consulting clients, as well as regular speaking engagements at marketing events around the U.S. He blogs at Small Business Search Marketing and can be found on Twitter at @MattMcGee and/or on Google Plus. You can read Matt's disclosures on his personal blog. See more articles by Matt McGee

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