They may be the 21st-century equivalent of steerage class, but as you endure
the stress, discomfort and sheer cattle-truck misery of travelling with the
so-called low-cost carriers, you can at least console yourself with the
knowledge that you’ve saved a bundle by not booking with a full-service
airline. Right? Wrong. An investigation by Warwickshire Trading Standards
states: “When you factor in the ‘extras’, some flights can end up being more
expensive than those offered by more traditional carriers.”
Mark Ryder, head of Warwickshire Trading Standards, explains: “A lot of these
no-frills offers look cheap, but when you add in booking supplements for
paying by credit card, check-in fees for luggage, charges for wanting to sit
together and in-flight meals, costs can really add up.”
By how much? Well, paying with plastic will set you back anything from £1.72
(with First Choice) to £4.95 (with EasyJet), or 2% of the total cost of your
ticket - minimum £4.95 - with MyTravel and Thomsonfly.
British Airways also charges a £3 credit-card “administration fee” - marketing
speak for rip-off – but at least it doesn’t charge you for food. Fly with
Thomas Cook and you’ll pay £6.50 each way for meals - that’s £52 for a
family of four. MyTravel charges up to £8.50 per sector for what is, in
effect, a microwave ready meal and a bowl of blancmange.
Then there’s baggage. Ryanair wants a fiver per bag – and if you forget to
check in online, it’s a tenner at the airport. It also charges £5.50 for
every 1kg you go over the 15kg limit, so, to match BA’s luggage allowance of
23kg, add £44 to the price of your Ryanair flight. And that £5 check-in fee.
Want to sit with your family? It used to be a matter of asking politely, but
now it’s a tradable commodity - £5 each per sector with BMI Baby or
Thomsonfly. EasyJet will give you a head start on the rest of the herd with
Speedy Boarding, also £5 each way, but again MyTravel takes the biscuit,
charging £12-£24 per person.
For the time being at least, BA seems above such things. “We try to seat
families together on our flights,” sniffs the airline, “and we would never
charge for that privilege.”
So, with free meals, checked luggage and allocated seating, can traditional
full-service carriers really compete on price?
We put the old heavyweights in the ring with the no-frills contenders to fight
for five holidays - a week in each of Spain, Cyprus and Florida, and
weekends in Amsterdam and Dublin. The rules were that we would choose the
cheapest deal on the day in question, giving maximum and minimum prices for
each no-frills carrier.
The maximum price includes excess baggage fees, to equalise luggage allowances
up to the full-service carriers’ 23kg, and supplements for assigned seats,
meals and on-board drinks.
The minimum price excludes meals, drinks, maximum free luggage allowance and
allocated seating.
The results were astonishing, showing that, with all things equal, flights on
full-service carriers were up to 35% cheaper than with their no-frills
rivals.
And, apart from Thomsonfly’s pummelling of Virgin on the Orlando route - its
school-holiday ticket was more than £400 cheaper than the Branson bruiser,
which means a £1,600 saving for a family of four - price disparity without
the frills was less than expected.
The average minimum cost of an EasyJet flight to Malaga came out at £115.93
over the dates surveyed. BA’s average for the same period was £126.23 - a
difference of £10.30, or 60p more than the price of an Easy cheesy baguette,
a G&T and a glass of on-board wine.
The Dutch carrier KLM KO’d BMI Baby’s so-called Tiny fares to Amsterdam, and
BA beat MyTravel on points to Paphos.
Fancy a break in Dublin? there’s just £8 in it between Ryanair and BA next
weekend – go a couple of kilos over at the weigh-in and you’d be better off
with BA.
Even if you can resist forking out for the extras, price differences between
no-frills and full-service carriers are so slight, you might wonder if the
savings are worth the sacrifice.
Not always true , Having last week traveled to Bremen and back with Ryanair total cost 2p each.
No taxes
no fees
No payment fee
No need for proirority booking
Hold baggage not required
10 kilo cabin baggage more enough allowance for four days break
Took own food
Had three seats between two of us both ways , ( booked 3 weeks ahead)
TOTAL COST 2P EACH RETURN so it can be a lot cheaper than full service airlines
peter lock, brentwood, uk
What's new. Earlier this decade for about a year I was going back and forth between London and Amsterdam a lot. I discovered that unless I booked three or four months in advance the legacy carriers were always cheaper. I remember one instance where i was looking for a flight the following weekend. Easyjet quoted me EUR 900 return AMS to LDN! BMI, BA and KLM were constantly around the EUR 110 mark so I would always choose between them. I don't really know why people fall for the 'low-cost' hype.
steve Rayner, Cape Town, South Africa