Luggage Costs - weighing you down?

I feel certain that flying used to be much easier: you bought a ticket, paid some tax and that was it. Nowadays with hugely increased competition in the airline industry, the individual companies vie for your business by offering cheap flights but with various extras tacked on to add to their profit margin. You might pay for extra legroom, priority boarding or as with many airlines these days - your checked-in luggage.

Whilst you might think that a few extra quid here or there, really doesn’t make too much difference to the cost of your holiday, if you have certain hobbies and like to take your sports kit with you - skiing or golf for instance - the difference between the price of flights offered by various carriers is actually very significant.

We had a look at the various baggage charges levied by some of the more popular airlines operating from the UK:

Airline	Bags Free	Bags Pre-paid	Bags Airport	Excess (per kg)	Sports Pre-paid	Sport Airport
Easyjet	None	£2 (20kg)	£5 (20kg)	£6	£15	£20
British Airways	23kg	£0	£0	£0 (32kg)	£0	£0
Ryanair	None	£5 (15kg)	£10 (15kg)	£5.50	£15.50	£20.50
bmi	20kg	£0	£0	£5	£15	£15
bmibaby	None	£4.99 (20kg)	£10 (20kg)	£6	£20	£20
Flyglobespan	20kg	£0	£0	£5	£15	N/A
Flybe	None	£5 (23kg)	£9 (23kg)	£5.50	£20	N/A
Thomsonfly	None	£5 (20kg)	£10 (20kg)	£6	£15	N/A
Monarch	None	£3.99 (20kg)	£10 (20kg)	£5	£15	£20

Key
Airport = fees for items paid for at airport
Sports = fees for sports equipment
All weights quoted are "up to", e.g. Easyjet's £2 per pre-paid bag fee is for a bag up to 20kg

One thing to be aware of immediately, is these prices are for each sector of your journey and since most of us tend to come back from wherever we have gone to at some point, these costs can effectively be doubled. Additionally, note the difference between paying for your baggage in advance and paying for it at the airport. In nearly all instances it is 50% cheaper when paying online.

To really see how these extra baggage costs stack up though, lets get back to those skiers out there (the same costs would apply to golfers too). Hundreds of thousands of people in the UK enjoy skiing and (with apologies to the Scots) in order to get any consistently decent snow, you have to travel abroad. If you fancy zipping around the slopes for the weekend in Europe then realistically you have to fly there. Again, if you are keen enough to go for the weekend, then you could well have your own skis too. This is where the costs of the excess baggage mount up.

The following table shows the comparative return flight costs between three airlines for a family of four flying to the Alps on the same weekend in February 2008. It is assumed that each adult will carry the standard 20kg of luggage since ski equipment weighs rather a lot. It is also assumed that the family will have the foresight to book their skis and baggage in before they get to the airport:

Airline	From	To	Flight	Bags	Excess	Skis	Total
Easyjet	Gatwick	Geneva	£669.92	£16	£0	£120	£805.92
British Airways	Heathrow	Geneva	£660.80	£0	£0	£0	£660.80
Ryanair	Stansted	Grenoble	£889.72	£20	£55	£124	£1088.72

Aside from the fact that the scheduled airline offers the cheapest flights, the cost of travelling with your luggage adds a sizeable amount to cost of the journey. Travellers should think carefully about the total cost of the “extras” before picking their airline - either that, or pick a new lightweight hobby.

All prices correct as at 29 January 2008

You may also like to read
A Taxing Problem - the real cost of your flights

© 2008 Skyscanner. All rights reserved. Any views and opinions expressed in Nick's Travel Bytes articles are those of the author and not Skyscanner.