Which? Holiday compared the prices of four of the UK’s largest no-frills airlines on flights from East Midlands airport to four different destinations and found found that checking a bag into the hold and using a credit card could add almost 30% onto the advertised price of some "budget" airline tickets.

The price of a flight to Paris with bmibaby increased by around 25 per cent when one piece of hold luggage was checked in and the ticket was booked using a credit card, and the price of a flight to Malaga increased by 23 per cent.

Ryanair charges £50 extra across all its routes for checking in a hold bag and paying with a credit card; an increase of between 8 per cent and 29 per cent on the advertised cost of the fare.

Although Jet2 were found to add the most to the cost of a flight for the charges - £92.16 – this was an increase of just 10 per cent on the advertised ticket price.

Easyjet consistently had the lowest luggage and card charges of the four airlines Which? Holiday looked at, ranging from £26 - £38 extra. However, in one case this still amounted to a 17 per cent increase on the advertised price.

Rochelle Turner, Head of Research for Which? Holiday, says:

"It’s hard to believe that any airline could justify increasing the ticket price by almost a third just for checking a bag into the hold and paying on a credit card – two services that not too long ago were included in the headline price.

Airlines argue that they are being fairer to customers who don’t use these services. But, in reality, how many people don’t use a credit or debit card to pay for their flights, or travel without luggage? These aren’t extra services. They are part and parcel of taking a flight."

Comments