Flying low cost, here are the extras that multiply the ticket price

Even in summer 2024, expensive flights are looming for those who choose 'low cost' airlines due to the price increases applied to additional services bought with the airline ticket, which thus registers increases of up to 363%. This is what emerges from a survey carried out by Altroconsumo, which scrutinised ticket prices and the cost of services such as the choice of seat, taking a trolley on board, or putting a small piece of luggage in the hold, of some low cost carriers: easyJet, Ryanair, Volotea, Vueling and Wizz Air. Services that multiply the price of air travel by several times, up to four times.

According to the consumer organisation's findings, the most expensive scenario looms for Wizz air travellers, who in the simulations saw the cost of the flight rise from EUR 24.99 to EUR 115.69 (+363%) due to the extras required. Similarly with easyJet and Vueling, the extra costs came to represent over 300% of the initial cost. As far as Ryanair is concerned, the maximum costs of additional services are very substantial: they are worth more than three times the initial price, rising from €14.99 to a final price, including the three added items, of €54.33, a +262% increase. The incidence of extras is more contained for Volotea, amounting in any case to almost three times the cost of the ticket initially proposed, rising from €51.39 to a final price of €145.39, 183% more. It emerges that the costs for hold luggage are those that have the heaviest increase and that for fixed costs, on the other hand, among the noteworthy increases are those for oversized hand luggage: for example, for Vueling the maximum penalty went from €35 to a whopping €75 and Wizz Air from €25 to €55, more than double in both cases. Compared to last year's Altroconsumo survey, which was simulated on even different flights, the maximum increase found is lower: in 2023 it was 465%, this year 363%. This reduction can be explained by the fact that, this year, the initial prices of flights were higher than those found last year and therefore the weight of extra costs was reduced. One detail not to be forgotten: this year's prices are falling.

In the 2024 survey, six return flights of easyJet, Ryanair, Volotea, Vueling and Wizz Air with departures from Milan and Rome to domestic and European holiday and tourist destinations were compared.