How to beat Easyjet's new hand luggage charges
Easyjet have announced sweeping changes to their hand luggage rules that will apply to all passengers on flights from February 10th 2021.
The move is not a surprise as it follows the industry trend for airlines to charge passengers for using overhead locker space. The changes are significant, but savvy travellers can still avoid the charges – read on to see how.
What is changing?
- From February 10th 2021, passengers who do not pay for an Extra Legroom or Up Front seat costing from £7.99 to £34.99 per flight will only be allowed to bring one piece of hand luggage measuring 45x36x20cm in to the cabin with them. This must be stowed underneath the seat in front.
- Passengers who have not bought an Extra Legroom or Up Front seat and show up to the gate with a bag that is bigger than 45x36x20cm will be charged £48 for the bag to be placed in the aircraft hold.
- Finally, those who do shell out for an Extra Legroom or Up Front seat at extra cost will be able to take both a 45x36x20cm bag and a 56x45x25cm traditionally sized cabin bag on board with them.
How much will the extra charges cost?
Between £7.99 and £34.99 extra per passenger per flight, depending on your chosen route and availability. This means a passenger could potentially have to pay almost £70 extra over a return trip to take a traditionally sized cabin bag on board.
Most of the time the charges seem to amount to around an extra £20 per passenger flight. For example, on a flight from London Gatwick to Athens, easyJet asked £21.49 for an Up Front seat at the time of writing. Extra Legroom seats on this flight were charged at £22.99 each per flight. Assuming the prices on the return flight were comparable, a passenger with a traditionally sized cabin bag could expect to pay at least £42.98 in extra fees over a round trip in order to take this bag on board.
The cheapest extra fees we found were on a 45 minute flight from Liverpool to Belfast where easyJet asked £12.49 for the cheapest Up Front seat and £14.99 for an Extra Legroom seat. This would mean a traveller with traditionally sized hand luggage would need to pay almost £25 extra over a return trip.
Often these extra charges outweigh the cost of the initial flight itself, but they can be avoided entirely if you choose the right bag.
How to avoid these extra charges
Cabin Max has several hand luggage bags that are perfectly sized to comply with easyJet’s new 45x36x20cm ‘free’ hand luggage allowance and ensure you can avoid these excessive extra fees.
Metz 30L
The Classic Metz 30L backpack measures 45x35x20cm, making it perfectly sized to for easyJet’s new ‘free’ underseat bag rules. Available in a range of fashionable colours, the Metz’s large unimpeded main compartment offers a huge 30L of packing space – more than enough for several days away. Tickets and travel documents are easily accommodated in the front organizer compartment whilst the Metz 30L is comfortable to carry thanks to airmesh back padding.
Best of all, at just £30 it won’t take many flights to recoup the cost of the bag by avoiding easyJet’s new charges.