Airlines Deals

TIRED of hearing about 99p flights that end up costing you £100? If the answer is yes, then you are in good company.

Many people ignore the small print when it comes to travelling with low-cost airlines — but it is these extra charges that are leading to the high price customers eventually pay for a flight.

For as well as the taxes and charges added to ticket prices — quite often the cheapest fares are restricted to certain flights leaving or returning at times which suit few people.

One Ryanair recently found themselves forking out more than £117 on their trip — despite the ticket being advertised at just 99p.

They said: “I logged onto Ryanair’s website to be greeted with a flashing yellow sign offering 99p flights. One of the routes on offer was London Stansted to Kerry Airport. The notice said I had to travel in July so I decided to book the flight.”

But instead of getting the 99p offer the final bill for a return weekend in July was £117.29. This involved leaving Stansted at 4.50pm on a Friday and flying back from Kerry the following Sunday at 6.45pm.

The disgruntled passenger said: “Although this journey could have been done at a cheaper rate if I had for example decided to fly out on Thursday evening and fly back early Sunday morning it highlights the point that we are paying far more than the price initially advertised.

“It’s ridiculous, customers are constantly being misled.” Another frequent traveller between Ireland and England Mairead Collins said: “With most airlines you just don’t know what other charges exist.

“My husband recently took golf clubs over to Ireland on Air Lingus and was charged €60. On top of what he’d already paid it just seems that they’re cashing in.” Airlines like Ryanair have never claimed to be luxury carriers.

Instead what they do say is that they will get you to your destination at the lowest possible price, safely and in over 90 per cent of cases on time. And to some that’s all that matters.

Frequent traveller Sean James said: “I’ve used Ryanair about four times this year for short breaks and overall I’m very happy with the service that they provide. To be honest I’m not expecting premium grade travel when flying for less than £100 return.

“Providing you’re able to book your flight within a given time period you can get some real bargains.

“But I do find it a bit frustrating with what initially seems a good price is then subject to airport taxes in each direction together with additional charges for each item of luggage and even for paying by credit card.

“I’d prefer to see just the one price for a flight as opposed to being made to feel that I’m being squeezed for every bit of cash possible.” In a bid to compete with Ryanair Ireland’s national airline Aer Lingus has launched its own series of cheap flights.

When logging onto their website customers will once again be greeted with a series of offers. But again finding those elusive best fares is not always easy.

After opting for an offer of £5 flights from London Heathrow to Cork one weekend we found the actual total in at a staggering £220.14.

And the flight times were not the most expensive options available for those days.

So where is all our money going? Basically the price initially advertised by the airlines is the fare price.

Fares apply only for carriage from the airport at the point of origin to the airport at the point of destination. Fares do not include hidden charges which are made up of among other things government taxes, air duty and airport tax. Taxes such as British Air Passenger Duty are levied on the carriage by air of passengers from a British airport. The fee of £5 is applicable for European Economic Area destinations.

The government tax is an airport departure or arrival tax payable to the government. These taxes vary from country to country in Europe. Airport taxes are charges made by the airport authority to an airline for the use of the terminal, runway, emergency services and security facilities.

This non-refundable charge is made on a per passenger basis and varies from airport to airport. The Aviation Insurance Levy meanwhile is an insurance surcharge that was introduced after the September 9 terrorist attacks in America.

The charge is £3.15 per passenger, per flight.

These taxes and charges account for the majority of extras but airlines can also impose their own charges. These include baggage charges, extra charges for children and a wheelchair levy.

These airlines also claim they cannot afford to accept credit cards without adding and extra surcharge due to the low cost of the fare price. Ryanair also recently imposed a charge to check-in baggage. They now charge £2.50 per bag, per flight.

The airline said this was a move to reduce the overall cost of flights. The best advice is to study what you are paying for with each flight.

The airline may have included travel insurance that you may already have or you may be paying for checking-in bags when all you’ll have is hand luggage. Don’t pay more than you have to — after all the most recently recorded profits of the airlines in our survey totals over £260million.