The end of school signals the beginning of summer vacations. However, this anticipated time also means the inevitable hassle of navigating airports, standing in long lines, and dealing with ever-complicated luggage fees for those planning international trips. Travel was more straightforward in the past – one payment covered everything from your ticket and seat to boarding the flight and handling your baggage. Nowadays, travelling requires strategically managing seating arrangements, comparing prices and rules based on whether you’re accompanied by children or not, fees for priority boarding that only allows you to board slightly in advance of other passengers who are necessary for take-off, and varying luggage costs determined by the airline, based on factors like weight, size, final destination, ticket category, and time of booking.
Take Ryanair for example, their optional fees alone span seven printed pages on their website. Similarly, Aer Lingus offers four distinctly different ticket prices, each governed by unique terms and conditions.
For those astute travellers planning to purchase a carry-on bag that fits within airline regulations, the reality is more complicated. Different airlines impose different size restrictions – indeed, even the two leading airlines catering to the Irish market differ. What complicates matters further is that Aer Lingus has various hand-luggage rules depending on the flight path.
Focusing first on hand-luggage, both Aer Lingus and Ryanair allow you a 10kg bag. However, they differ on the allowable dimensions. The former states that bags may be up to 55cm tall, 40cm wide, and 24cm deep. If you try taking these same dimensions on a Ryanair flight, you might face some issues. They permit dimensions of 55cm x 40cm x 20cm, not a significant difference, but one that could potentially result in a great deal of stress and extra cost, as Ryanair tends to enforce bag size restrictions at boarding gates.
If your bag fails the gate check and needs to be placed in the hold, this could cost you an additional €46.
In addition to the charges you would have already paid to bring your luggage in the cabin, different airlines have varying policies regarding handbags or laptop bags. Most allow these items free of charge but the size limits differ. The Irish airline, Aer Lingus, for instance, accepts bags no bigger than 25cm x 33cm x 20cm. Ryanair, on the other hand, is slightly more lenient, allowing bags up to 25cm x 40cm x 20cm.
To bring a 10kg suitcase in the cabin, Ryanair imposes a priority boarding fee. The cost of this ranges from €6 to €36 for each passenger on each journey, contingent on the details of your travel arrangement. It’s worth noting that you can likely expect higher prices during the height of summer. If you select priority boarding later on, you could face charges between €20 and €38.
Aer Lingus’ policy is a little more complex. Despite previously allowing all travellers to carry a 10kg bag in the cabin, the airline has since changed their rules. On an ‘economy’ or ‘Saver’ fare, your 10kg cabin bag isn’t included. You’d need to pay an extra €9.99 per bag per flight to bring it on board. If you don’t book this in advance and try to convince staff at the gate, the bag will be sent into the hold and you’ll be charged an additional €35.
With the higher-priced Plus, Advantage or AerSpace fares, your 10kg cabin bag is included, but you’re essentially paying for it within the higher fare. For example, a midweek Saver fare to Madrid in late June was priced at €68.64, not including the 10kg bag charge. The Plus fare rose considerably to €126.64, nearly double, but it does also offer a free checked-in 20kg bag, an assured seat reservation, and flexibility to go on standby for an earlier flight. This is for illustrative purposes and not necessarily indicative of all flights.
Opt for the Advantage fare and you’ll need to shell out €141.64, a marginally higher sum compared to the previous fare. The supplementary benefits include lounge access (if available at the airport) and a fast-track security process, claiming to expedite your security clearance to just 10 minutes. However, this applies exclusively at Dublin Airport.
If you decide to splurge, the AerSpace fare may be for you. With this, you’ll gain priority boarding, a seat at the front of the airplane with the middle seat vacant and dedicated storage for your possessions. However, this is going to set you back €352.64. Essentially, you’re spending an additional €211 merely for the ‘free’ middle seat.
Circumstances grow even more muddled if you’re travelling via an Aer Lingus regional flight to regional airports in UK territories like England, Scotland, Isle of Man, Jersey or Brittany. For such trips, your carry-on should not exceed a weight limit of 7kg and dimensions 48cm x 33cm x 20cm.
Checked-in baggage rules are a whole different ballgame. For a 10kg checked bag, Ryanair’s charge per passenger per flight leg can range between €11.99 and €29.99, conditional on when you book it and the route. Choose to add this bag at another time or at the airport, and you’ll find charges soaring to between €20 and €38. Arriving unprepared to the boarding gate can incur an exorbitant cost of €46.
In contrast, Aer Lingus levies no charges for a 10kg checked-in bag, even on its Saver fare.
When it comes to suitcases weighing 20kg, Aer Lingus includes this in all fares, barring the Saver fare. For Saver passengers wanting to include a large suitcase, charges vary depending on the destination and booking period. Booking online can cost €25, €40, or €55 based on whether it’s a short, mid, or long haul route. A slight increase of €2 is charged if you add your bag when checking in online due to uncertainty about luggage needs. However, if you’re booking via the airline’s call center or at the airport, the surcharge rockets to €10.
Aer Lingus stipulates that the sum of the width, height, and depth of a suitcase should be under 158cm. Comparatively, Ryanair seems more flexible with its size requirements but imposes a significantly higher fee for unchecked decisions made during booking.
For an added 20kg bag at the time of an online booking, the fee ranges between €18.99 and €59.99, contingent on the time of flight and destination. If you decide to include later, charges shift between €44.99 and €59.99, reaching up to €70 if this decision is made at the airport.
Take note not to exceed the weight limit of your luggage. Ryanair administers a €9 per kilo fee for exceeding baggage weight, increasing to €11 per kilo if it’s dealt with at the bag drop. Aer Lingus’s policy mirrors this, charging €10 per kilo for additional weight on European flights.
As evident, it’s a complex task that can deeply affect the total expense of your holiday journey and the overall “bang for your buck” when selecting between airlines. Therefore, conducting thorough research before firming up your summer adventures is significantly advised. However, this may have to be a job for next time. Have a great trip.