Low-cost airlines have been finding different ways to make money as they continue to keep flight ticket prices as cheap as possible in a bid to win back customers following the Covid disruption. The Times reports that airlines are raking in record revenue from selling baggage space and other extras, with easyJet this week revealing that so-called ancillaries “continue to grow with yield increasing 20 per cent year on year” - up 85 per cent compared with the same period in 2019.
The Times says that low-cost carriers use algorithms to get maximum revenue on top of headline fares, typically selling luggage carriage, seat selection, priority boarding and food as extras. But this can potentially add hundreds of pounds to the cost of tickets for a typical family, and travel experts are warning passengers to check carefully when looking to book flights.
“Log on to the luggage allowance pages of Ryanair, Wizz Air and easyJet and while they state that you can add a bag ‘from £5.99’, the reality is often very different,” Chelsea Dickenson, a cheap travel expert, told The Times.
