Cheap flight extras that TRIPLE  the cost of your budget break

Extras such as speedy boarding, hand luggage, hold luggage and meals can drive up the price of a budget flight.

All of these add-ons can cost you three times the advertised rate. And if you forget to print your boarding pass, it could cost you £40.

It can be a mind-boggling experience when you book a cheap flight online, having to click endlessly to add checked baggage and carry-on baggage to what initially seemed like an attractive price.

Then there’s the question of whether you should pay more for a selected seat and whether “fast boarding” is worth it.

Meanwhile, on long-haul flights, do you have to pay extra for a meal or bring your own food?

All the boxes you’ve ticked quickly add up and you may wonder if you might have been better off booking with British Airways, Lufthansa or another national airline such as Air France or KLM.

MoneyMail ran a snapshot of routes this summer, with departures on July 15, a peak holiday date.

It found that budget airlines’ advertised fares can nearly triple when checked baggage and other basic extras are added.

For example, an EasyJet flight from London to Nice in France increased by 62%. including checked baggage. The £38.99 advertised flight was increased to £116.47 with add-ons.

No wonder Ryanair has returned to profitability for the first time since before the pandemic – with a 30 per cent increase in revenue per passenger and a third of its profit coming from add-ons.

“The most important addition of all is bags,” says Nicky Kelvin of The Points Guy, a travel advice website.

This was confirmed in our snapshot study, which showed that the price of a flight to Paris is advertised with EasyJet at £57.99, but if you want to check luggage and take a bag on board, you’re looking at £151.96 .

Nicky advises passengers to think carefully about whether or not to purchase ‘speedy boarding’, as they may not be able to board the plane any faster. But even experts like him get caught.

On a recent trip from Tel Aviv in Israel to Sofia in Bulgaria, on Wizz Air, he paid for “quick boarding” only to find himself taken to a corner of a transfer bus before the rest of the passengers.

Once there, the other passengers boarded the bus. “It was a complete waste of money,” he says.

Airport location is also a hidden cost consideration when flying out. ‘Budget airlines often fly from airports that are more difficult to reach. Stansted may offer cheaper flights, but if you live in the Home Counties, transportation costs can add up.”

He also warns that cheaper fares offered by budget airlines using airports far from city centers often require expensive transfers.

For example, Ryanair flies to Bergamo and calls it ‘Milan Bergamo’, but Bergamo is a different city 44 kilometers from Milan – where most passengers go – and requires a train journey of more than an hour.

Further charges are paid by passengers who show up at the airport without a printout of their boarding pass or an electronic version on their phone.

Budget airlines typically charge a minimum of £40 to anyone who does not check in online in advance and must do so at the airport.

However, traditional airlines are starting to pick up on the habits of low cost airlines.

British Airways advertised its standard economy fare as the introductory fare, but it now has an economy category below standard economy, which it refers to as ‘economy (hand luggage)’.

For the July 15th BA flight from London Gatwick to Nice, the difference between ‘economy (hand luggage)’ and standard economy including hold luggage, also known as ‘economy (checked luggage)’ is £27.

This is the additional amount to be paid for 23 kg of checked baggage.

Tamsin Cocks, editor of Business Traveler UK magazine, is also wary of ‘fast boarding’ by budget airlines: ‘I recently flew back from Tivat in Montenegro with EasyJet and it was all just a swarm of people going to the gate.’

It was impossible to say who was a ‘fast’ passenger and who was not.

• Tom Chesshyre is author of How Low Can You Go? Around Europe for 1 cent each way (plus tax).