What are the airlines going to fleece you for next?

Why?

We have flown with Jet2 loads of times. I really rate them as a budget airline. They regularly get voted best budget airline.

Last time we flew abroad it took so long to get through immigration and passport control that our luggage was waiting for us. So taking hand luggage (which is impractical for us anyway) wouldn't have saved any time. It was included in the price as well.

Exactly @Nameychangington. Plus for many Jet2 flights, a lot of passengers are on a package, so take a hold case and a small bag, leaving more room for the flight only customers to put their trolley cases in the overhead lockers, making the £6 even more unnecessary.

So for the OP, just because they are offering you this 'service' doesn't mean that you have to take it. Just view the email as 'would you like to voluntarily give us an extra £6 pp per flight for likely no reason at all' and ignore it.

As an aside, we've never paid to choose our seats and have always been together with Jet2. There is only 2 of us and we do fly outside the school holidays, but the flights are always full or only one or two empty seats.

Going against the grain a bit it seems but why do you need your case in the cabin with you? You are guaranteed a rucksack type bag which fits under the seat for no charge, why do you need a case as well in the cabin on Jet2 who only fly short haul?

I've flown Jet2 on my own with 2 small DC several times and easily got everything we need for a few hours flight - phone, books, sweets, wipes, tissues, money, colouring and pens, teddies, Lego, overpriced meal deal from airport - in a rucksack.

I've often thought boarding and disembarking would be a lot quicker and more pleasant without 50 hard shelled wheeled cases being hefted around people's heads and legs, and once you get through passport control the baggage is usually there in a few minutes so it's not like having hold baggage keeps you from leaving the airport any quicker. And Jet2 is package so you get 22kg hold baggage each included, which is loads. I genuinely don't get why you need a case in the cabin with you and would enjoy the experience much more if no one brought their case in the cabin at all.

Passenger planes are already fitted with an 'emergency oxygen system', I suspect that someone will suggest that if you want to breath clean air whilst travelled you can pay to use that system - the alternative being the plane flooded with a combination smell of flatulence and B.O. 🤢

Oh dear, I hope I haven't given some cheap airline another money making idea! 😱

Yet another thread on ancillary pricing in just a few days and now another airline has its name in the MN spotlight…I’m beginning to get suspicious.

TBH if posters (or their parents or grandparents) had kicked up a fuss about this when “menu pricing” started becoming commonplace thirty years ago, and maybe boycotted the airlines using it we wouldn’t be where we are today….but people couldn’t help themselves when they saw the low base fares on offer.

As for consumer protection and maybe the politicians getting involved: I know it’s not great entertainment but to get a clear picture it’s worth taking look at the financial reports of the airlines and seeing how much profit they make per passenger over the year…per capita it’s not a lot so reducing the airlines’ ability to raise cash via ancillary means will increase basic fares.

They charge for the tea as well.

Unless you are going to visit say an elderly relative who cannot travel or are going to a funeral, you have a choice. Even then, look at the other options, even if it means a different airport and a train journey or hire car.

Don't support the nasty Mr O'Leary.

Same here. We use Jet2 a lot and usually have hold luggage so they'll nearly always put our cabin wheelie cases in the hold for free.

Saves having to get them through security, drag them round the airport and find space in the locker.

But if we were hand luggage only we'd just take our chances, we've rarely had to wait more than a few minutes for hold luggage anyway.

The £6 is pretty much a stupidity tax, see how many people will pay the fairly unnecessary fee.

BA? TUI? Lufthansa? Swiss air? Air France? KLM?

There isn’t anywhere I want to go THAT badly that I’d choose an airline I didn’t want to use. I never get it when people ask this question “Oh, but what if they were the only operator on that route?” Well, I just wouldn’t go 🤷‍♀️

This is why I prefer to make my European journeys by train. No worries about luggage, I can take as much as I can carry. Shame that Deutsche Bahn are so unreliable.

We're intending to use trains more, seems like some parts should be fine (eg Switzerland, booked seats on TVG in france) but not sure about some of the rest...recent experience of packed standing room only TER train in france on a day out, luggage would have been physically impossible. That's probably a whole other thread or six!

This is why I prefer to make my European journeys by train. No worries about luggage, I can take as much as I can carry. Shame that Deutsche Bahn are so unreliable.

On the rare occassion that I travel with a wheely case I always volunteer to have it put in the hold. Saves me the stress of trying to find a space for it in the cabin, and it's quite rare that the waiting time at the baggage belt is more than 15 minutes in my experience.

YANBU. Ridiculous. I'd have thought better of Jet2!

Yes, easyJet you just get one under seat sized bag free, and have to pay for a larger cabin bag (inc misnomer 'speedy boarding').

I love it when people say things like this. How else are you going to fly into Europe, unless you’re on a private jet?

People say this when Ryanair etc come up - I don’t get it!? It a kind of snobbery that makes zero sense

You don't have to pay. It's just insurance against the risk and anxiety that your cabin luggage may end up in the hold. If there is too much cabin baggage, sometimes the staff in the departure lounge or at the bottom of the steps at time of boarding ask for your bag and hand you a luggage ticket.

It's all part of the business model you "buy into" when you choose to book with a low-cost airline.

Have I got this right - there is a charge for a piece of hand luggage and then a separate charge to ensure that your hand baggage is kept with you?
So rather than it being a rarity that your hand baggage is put in the hold, your bag is put in the hold unless you pay.

Some airlines will now charge for cabin bags. Basically if it doesn't go under a seat, they'll sting you for it.

They're not fleecing anyone, they're giving you a choice. If there isn't space for everyone's cabin bags, someone's has to go in the hold, and you can pay a few £ to make sure it isn't yours.
I honestly don't understand why some people object so strongly to their bag being put in the hold free of charge. People are talking about their bag being "taken off them" as though it was being stolen!

I like this charging for extras stuff! Cus I’m usually happy flying light so I like to pay less! All that will happen if they take away the pay extra for stuff is everyone has to pay more for their fare

I’m going Ryanair for example to Dublin next week for 21£ with just a small backpack that fits under the seat

that suits me! I’d happily pay extra for bags if I needed them and it wouldn’t be a lot more if I add them at time of booking

We usually take one hand luggage suitcase between all of us - which we are happy to check in FOC if asked as we would be waiting for our bigger cases anyway

Just ignore, you don't need to do that.
Never had any problem taking hand luggage.