Complete and Utter Zebu

Ever buy a ticket from a “budget” airline and find yourself staggered by the total cost when you get to the settling-up webpage? Writing Complete and Utter Zebu, we wanted to see how much Ryanair’s advertised “free flights” to Milan cost. Once everything was added in, the total cost for the return flight was £103.92, whereas flying with British Airways – who don’t actually get grumpy if you insist on having a seat during the flight – would have cost you £110. It’s not a joke; Ryanair are trying to get approval for having passengers use barstools on flights.

We only did one test. Which? have conducted a bigger investigation and found that if you want to use a credit card and check a suitcase into the hold with budget airlines, you’ll end up paying roughly 30% more than the advertised price. Ryanair, for instance, now charge £50 for checking in a bag and paying with a credit card. Of the four airlines Which? studied, Easyjet were the cheapest though there was still a 17% bump. As Rochelle Turner, the head of research for Which? Holiday said:

“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.”

As she pointed out, “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.”

As we discovered, you can only escape a card handling fee with Ryanair and other budget airlines by using a Visa Electron card. Given that this is usually only issued to teenagers, it’s pretty safe for them to be so generous.

What Which? have not mentioned is that EU law states: “The final price paid shall at all times be indicated… including the applicable air fare, taxes, charges, surcharges and fees which are unavoidable.” Given that the budget airlines now charge for such luxuries as checking-in, having luggage and paying for the flights, surely they are breaking the law.