Aer Lingus under fire over 50% bag fee hike

AER Lingus has hiked luggage fees by 50% to €9 and €12 per bag in time to catch tens of thousands of passengers flying to and from Ireland over Christmas.

Yesterday, consumer groups lashed the airline for the timing of the rise, which has come just two weeks before the main Christmas travel season begins.

Last night the Consumers’ Association of Ireland (CAI) rounded on Aer Lingus for the rise in baggage fees and predicted other airlines would now follow suit.

“This is a massive whack for Aer Lingus passengers and goes beyond the acceptable,” said CAI boss Dermott Jewell.

“We have seen baggage fees escalate but the quality of service in no way matches the high fee.”

Two days ago Aer Lingus raised its fee for check-in baggage to €9 from €6 per bag for passengers paying the charge online.

But passengers who opt to pay for the charge at the airport now pay €12 — up from €8.

Aer Lingus brought in baggage charges in mid-January and set them at €4 online or €8 at the airport.

In mid-March, the airline hiked the online fee to €5 to coincide with the demand for flights to Ireland for St Patrick’s Day.

In autumn the fee went up to €6 and now the online cost is €9, a rise of €5 or 125% since the fees were introduced just 11 months ago.

The rises mean passengers on a return journey in January paid €8 online if they wanted to check in a bag — but the luggage charge on the same journey today would be €18.

“People can avoid the charge if they travel light and take on their bags as hand luggage — that’s understandable,” said Mr Jewell.

“But nobody I know who is staying somewhere for more than three days can travel light.”

Ryanair’s fee per bag has remained unchanged at €9 if passengers pay online and €15 if they opt to pay at the airport. Both include an additional check-in fee.

Since October, BMI, which runs services to regional British airports, has increased its fee to €9.20 from €8 online. The fee at the airport remains €16.

Yesterday, Aer Lingus said the hikes were in line with trends in the industry for baggage fees.

“Since the introduction of baggage fees we are finding that fewer passengers on our short-haul flights are travelling with checked-in baggage,” said spokesman Niall Bradley.

“We want to encourage our passengers to travel with less baggage so that the travelling experience can become even quicker and more efficient.”

The rise coincides with figures showing Irish airlines attracted the most complaints to EU consumer watchdogs last year, with gripes rising from 218 in 2005 to 612 in 2006.

But the European Consumer Centre report admitted that the figures could be skewed as Europe’s biggest budget airline, Ryanair, is based in Ireland.

Irish people tend to fly more often than people elsewhere in Europe as the country is an island so this would also skew the figures, the report added.

Heavy baggage

* Aer Lingus: Initial charge: was €4 online or €8 at airport.

Now: €9 online or €12 at airport.

* Ryanair: Was: €3.50 online or €7 at airport.

Now: €9 online or €15 at airport (including €3 check-in).

* BMI baby: Was: €4 online or €8 at airport.

Now: €9.20 online or €16 at airport.