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Weigh up your options - 23 April 2007

It is easy to get wound up over hidden charges when travelling, particularly where low-cost airlines are concerned. In fact, such is the prevalence of ‘added extras’ when travelling with one of the budget airlines that on some sub-conscious level, passengers prepare themselves for the inevitable shelling-out for food, drinks, luggage, golf clubs, and in one famous case, a wheelchair.

However, a recent investigation by the Sunday Times has uncovered a worrying trend in one low-cost carrier using faulty scales with which to weigh hold baggage. Ryanair was accused last week of boosting its own profits by weighing hold baggage on badly-calibrated scales on a return flight from Girona in Spain to London’s Stansted airport.

A journalist weighed a bag at 14.6kg before departure from Stansted airport, which was confirmed by the scales at check-in at Stansted. After a three-day walking trip, during which no extra baggage was added, the scales at Girona airport showed the bag had gained over 2kg in weight, coming in at 17kg.

With charges of £5 per checked bag up to 15kg, and £5.50 for every kg above that allowance. In this instance, the extra charge amounted to £11. A number of other passengers on the same flight complained at the charges and weighing process. One, a travel agent, flew out to Spain with a number of presents and a bag which weighed in at just under 15kg – on the return leg, and without the presents, the bag ‘weighed’ 17kg.

The Irish airline has courted controversy in recent months with its decision to charge passengers for checking bags into the hold of its aircraft. The charge, which is estimated to make the company at least £920million in profit this year alone, has met with widespread opposition. The airline insists that the charge was not introduced to generate profits, just as a reflection of the marketplace in which it operates. However, just 55 per cent of Ryanair’s passengers now check in baggage, compared to 75 per cent before the charges were introduced.

Ryanair said over the weekend that it does not set targets for revenue generated by excess baggage fees, and that all of its scales were checked independently.

 

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