Mexico City - Mexico's Profeco federal consumer protection agency said on Tuesday that it has fined five airlines for wrongly charging passengers for their first checked bag on flights from Mexico City to the United States and Canada.

It levied fines totaling 22.4 million Mexican pesos ($1.24 million) on Volaris, Interjet, Aeromexico, VivaAerobus and JetBlue Airways for the charges, which violated federal consumer protection and civil aviation rules.

Profeco said that it was investigating United Airlines and American Airlines for the same practices, adding it expected to resolve the inquiry in the coming days.

"The penalized airlines were found to have engaged in misleading advertising, discriminatory acts, abusive clauses in their membership contracts and other practices that violate the rights of passengers," said Profeco.

According to recent changes to Mexico's federal consumer protection and civil aviation laws, airline passengers have a right to transport, free of charge, one checked bag of up to 25 kilograms (55 pounds) and up to two carry-on bags of no more than 10 kilograms on domestic and international flights originating in Mexico.

Original article (Reuters Reporting by Anthony Esposito; Editing by Bill Rigby)