Extra airline charge

rolls636363

I am flying to the Canary islands with Jet2 soon, having booked yesterday.  They have this sneaky new charge they have added.  £3.50 each way for guaranteed hand luggage in the cabin, whereas if you don't pay it they may tell you it has to go in the hold.  I wouldn't normally entertain this sort of charging but am taking my rather expensive camera with me in the cabin in its rather small but protective padded bag, so small I have been able to place it under the seat in front of me each time I have taken it.  I have begrudgingly paid it this time due to the value of gear I am taking and cannot risk having the bag put in the hold in any case I would hand over an empty bag if they made me, but this all seems a bit of a rip off to me.  There may not be enough room for your bag in the cabin..............but if you pay us an extra seven pounds we can magically make enough room for it.  Am I being picky here or does anyone else feel a bit of profiteering being worked here? 

Westin

Well I guess like many airlines it has been a torrid 18 months and they need to look at maximising revenue. The sale of ancillary add-on's is one such way.  Low base fare + extras for seat assignments, bags, meals, drinks, etc etc.

You get a guarantee of a10kgs max cabin bag to go on board. For £3.50 I'd probably buy it as well if I wanted piece of mind about my cabin baggage travelling in the cabin with me. Personal choice though.

In reality, if cabin space was an issue on your flight and your cabin bag was to be loaded instead in the hold, any airline will ask you to first remove valuables and let you keep them with you in the cabin. This would have been your camera which could then go under the seat in front of you. 

Other tips would be NOT to take a max sized wheelie cabin bag. Instead a soft bag which can often be squeezed in to cabin locker space. Also, get to the gate to board earlier.  It will be the late comers who often have the issue with cabin bags not fitting into remaining cabin space.