Airline additional charges

[GlasgowGirl]

I know budget airlines have always added extra charges on to their fares for baggage etc, but is the practice spreading? I've recently booked flights with flyglobespan, who I think of as a cheap but not bargain basement airline, and I had to pay to put any luggage at all in the hold. I'm sure I didn't have to do this last time I flew with them. Is this likely to become standard practice, do you think?

[Tony]

I think they will try whatever they can to get more money out of us while hiding the true cost of the flight from the headline price. Credit card surcharges, paying for meals, fuel surcharges etc etc.

Tony

[Paul Carcone]

I'm afraid that stealthy price levies are likely to become more and more prevalent...

The only thing that will stop this practice will be customers refusing to use the airline in question. I, for example, will go to almost any length to avoid using Ryanair.

However, even quality airlines are beginning to charge an incredible amount for certain services. I recently flew from London to Tblilisi on a Business Class ticket (costing around £1,600) and was charged a further £420 for just under 40kg of extra luggage. It worked out at about £12 per kilo...and this is even more expensive than Ryanair's 15 EUR per kg excess.

Hopefully, with the price of oil dropping at the moment, we might see a reduction in fares are surcharges...but I would expect that this windfall will be retained by the airlines themselves as comptetion is not particularly fierce in all but the transatlantic routes.