Big increases in charges for checked in bags?

katejo

I have just booked a return flight to Bologna in late September. I first checked Skyscanner and found  apparently reasonable looking prices for BA but it was a con. The only other direct route was Ryanair and I avoid them because of their inconsistent baggage rules. I  last flew home from Bologna with BA in April 2023 and the cost was around £85 including luggage. This time a return flight was £300 and I had to pay a seat reservation fee as well as the hold baggage fee. Together with tax, the increase was huge. I really don't like carry on because the rules about size of bag are not consistent but I might have to reconsider for next time. 

eskbanker

Sounds like quite a collection of essentially separate grievances, plus the one in the thread title:

1. Skyscanner links to a range of bucket shops which can distort displayed prices, or was the 'con' something else?
2. Ryanair has inconsistent baggage rules (in what way?)
3. BA's price for your itinerary is significantly higher than in 2023
4. BA now offers unbundled prices, like Ryanair
5. Carry-on bag sizes are inconsistent between airlines (nothing new there), unless you meant something else?

In the absence of a question, is this perhaps one for the praise, vent and warnings board?

katejo

Sounds like quite a collection of essentially separate grievances, plus the one in the thread title:

1. Skyscanner links to a range of bucket shops which can distort displayed prices, or was the 'con' something else?  I never book via Skyscanner but their prices matched those on the BA site
2. Ryanair has inconsistent baggage rules (in what way?). I have read of people whose bag size was allowed on the outward journey but not the return journey
3. BA's price for your itinerary is significantly higher than in 2023. Maybe but I just wondered whether anyone else had noticed similar increases. I expected some difference but not as much.
4. BA now offers unbundled prices, like Ryanair. That happened last time but the difference between carry on and checked baggage wasn't as big.
5. Carry-on bag sizes are inconsistent between airlines (nothing new there), unless you meant something else?

In the absence of a question, is this perhaps one for the praise, vent and warnings board?  No not really. I just wanted to know if anyone else had noticed such big increases. See my added answers above

la531983

Number 2 can happen even with a flag carrier, BA dont have their own staff in all the airports they use, they will outsource to local staff who likely go and put a different tabard on for a different airline as soon as the BA flight leaves.

eskbanker

katejo said:

Skyscanner links to a range of bucket shops which can distort displayed prices, or was the 'con' something else?  I never book via Skyscanner but their prices matched those on the BA site

What did you mean by this?

katejo said:

I first checked Skyscanner and found  apparently reasonable looking prices for BA but it was a con.

katejo said:

Ryanair has inconsistent baggage rules (in what way?). I have read of people whose bag size was allowed on the outward journey but not the return journey

Strictly speaking, that's inconsistent application of consistent rules!  People complaining will generally be those who are breaking the well-publicised rules but are only pulled up for it occasionally rather than always....


On the wider point about fare increases, I think it's so difficult to make meaningful like-for-like comparisons, because fares are so variable, i.e. there isn't the concept of a standard price for a route and demand-based pricing is all driven by algorithms.  You mention September 2025 versus April 2023, so not the same time of year, but there'll be plenty of other factors influencing pricing.

maman

Personally, for a short trip I'm happy with carry on. Most recently, it was far better value to buy a cheap bag from Amazon than pay the baggage charges. 

Caz3121

Did you compare the price of the Economy Basic and Economy Plus...the latter includes 23kgs baggage and seat selection...it is usually cheaper the purchase the fare that includes rather than adding them on to a Basic fare.
Looking at the timetable over the year it looks like £100 is the cheapest basic return fare...it is available for some flights in September. Is there maybe something on there during the period you are travelling to make the fare much higher than usual?  what are your dates, there are plenty options for half that or is that price for two people?

katejo

Caz3121 said:

Did you compare the price of the Economy Basic and Economy Plus...the latter includes 23kgs baggage and seat selection...it is usually cheaper the purchase the fare that includes rather than adding them on to a Basic fare.
Looking at the timetable over the year it looks like £100 is the cheapest basic return fare...it is available for some flights in September. Is there maybe something on there during the period you are travelling to make the fare much higher than usual?  what are your dates, there are plenty options for half that or is that price for two people?

I didn't consider Economy basic because it is cabin bag only. I looked at all the September prices and went for the cheapest. However, I am meeting a friend so needed to match her availability. Economy plus didn't include the seat selection. That was added later. 

TheShape

Did you actually need to pay a seat reservation fee?

I'm fairly sure you can pick a seat for free on check-in (or get allocated a seat for free with Economy basic).

katejo

TheShape said:

Did you actually need to pay a seat reservation fee?

I'm fairly sure you can pick a seat for free on check-in (or get allocated a seat for free with Economy basic).

I went for the minimum fee. There was a question link which said 'What happens if I don't select a seat now?'. I looked at the answer and it said something like 'You may find that you have to pay more nearer the time'. I haven't flown with BA for a couple of years so wasn't sure whether to risk it..

jimi_man

BA don’t charge for seat reservation with Economy Plus. You can choose your seat usually 48 hours before for free. If you want to choose it before that then you have to pay unless you have status. 

So if you’ve paid extra then that’s to choose one now, but if you’ve hadn’t paid then it’s as I said above.