On Monday night I was booked on an Easyjet flight from Belfast to London, and then another from London to Tallinn on Tuesday morning. Inbetween times I had arranged to stay with MWK. As my new life has encouraged me to massively trim back on the amount of stuff I own, I decided to arrive not just with gifts for his children, and some Finnish liquorice pipes and Moomin lollipops, but also a whole bunch of crazy books that I thought needed a better home than just a charity shop.
I realised that if was going to be able to deliver everything I wanted, I’d be over my luggage allowance, so I decided to be pro-active and book an extra stowed bag via the Easyjet website.
Suitably pre-arranged, I arrived at Belfast Airport to discover that my 42kg wasn’t just a little over my 2 x 20kg limit (but hey, no big deal, I can put a few extra things in my hand luggage if they’re really going to be picky), but a lot over my 1 x 20kg limit.
It took me a while to work out what they were saying, as it just sounded so completely insane. Even after the ensuing fight with the check-in attendant, I had to go confirm it with their ticket desk, as it couldn’t possibly be true.
But, indeed, scarily it is.
If you pre-book extra bags (the website helpfully allows you to purchase room for between 1 and 8 extra), you are indeed allowed to check in extra bags. But … you can’t actually put anything in them!
Well, that’s not technically true. You can move some of the stuff that would otherwise have been in your first bag into them, but you can’t put anything extra into them. Your weight allowance remains fixed at 20kg. Anything above that is still charged at £5/kg.
So, if you had gone on a huge spending spree and availed of their generous “8 extra bags” offer, the only thing you’re really buying is the ability to ensure that each bag has an average weight of no more than 2.2kg. If you actually arrived at the airport mistakenly thinking that you had bought an extra weight allowance, your now filled extra bags would cost you an extra £800.
The Easyjet staff were obnoxiously smug about this, in a “Wahey! We’ve caught out another idiot” way, explaining with glee that the website explains all this clearly.
I guess it does, if you make sure you read the small print, have a degree in advanced logic, and have a lawyer’s mind that knows that just because you’ve paid extra money for something, it doesn’t mean that what you’re going to get is what you actually wanted, and thought you were buying.
I get paid to program computers. I should have known better. But pick an average person on the street and try to explain the difference between “all bags must weigh less than 20kg” and “each bag must weigh less than 20kg”. I’m having a really hard time believing that Easyjet aren’t being deliberately obnoxious here, knowing that the vast majority of people will arrive at the airport and have no choice but to pay the extra fee.
But they’ve now joined KLM on my list of airlines never to fly on unless there’s absolutely no alternative.
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That sucks!
I’ve heard that RyanAir checkin staff are paid commission on these extra fees, which would explain why they’re always so gleeful and inflexible when applying them. Maybe it’s true, and EJ are the same?
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Sorry…..but for your information we dont get any commision at all! we just do our jobs and if we look at you like your an idiot i do apoligize bui suggest you read your terms and conditions before moaning that i t wasnt displayed online!!!!
You obviously don’t have to be very well educated to work for Easyjet.
Thank you for this website! I really DID think just exactly what you did when I looked at the luggage restrictions at EasyJet, it is so unclear it makes you believe that it is written lika that on purpose. And hey, who likes smugness. I have decided to fly with another airline because of it. These new luggage extra costs are really quite ludicrous…
Thanks for the info!
That is exactly what happened to me as per your top story I could not believe that I paid online £5 for the pleasure of taking on an extra bag then paid £30 for overweight. I am not saying I will never use Easyjet again but my preference would be with Flyglobespan.
Alan, I don’t know about combining allowances amongst passengers, but paying the extra £5 does not get you any additional weight allowance whatsoever.
Can someone clarify my weight allowance. If there are 5 of us travelling does this mean that we have a weight limit of 100kg between us irrespectie of whether 3 of the team are children? The website suggets that we can pay an additional £5 online for additional bags. if I therefore pay this additional £5 are you suggetsing that I must still keep to the 20kg limit?
I have just paid Easyjet £47 for a simple name change a month before the travel date and having noticed it within 24 hours! I AM ABSOLUTELY SURE I DID NOT PUT IN ANY NAME IN THE PASSENGER LINE AND ASSUME THEY FILLED IT IN WITH THE CARDHOLDER’S NAME(IT WAS A BOOKING FOR MY DAUGHTER).
I used easyjet for a year in weekly basis travelled with the same hand bag which usually had almost nothing in it. In my last flight from Belfast the easyjet check in discovered that the hand bag I had used for more than a year was too big to be taken in to aircraft and I had to pay £40 for it. I am not sure whether my hand bag grown/stretched to a bigger size or easyjet was desperate to rape of a passenger.
hi
I have just booked a flight and car with Easyjet to go to a feneral. I have found out that the car reservation is not valid. The Easyjet website gives misleading information. I asked them to cancel the flight as I have no car on arrival at Luton Airport at 22.00 hrs(september 5th). “No sorry we can not cancel the flight we can only cancel the car” was the reply. Now i am going to be stuck in Luton with no car and needing to travel to Swindon for a funeral in the morning(September 6th).
If anyone has any suggestions it would be appreciated. I am never going anywhere near Easyjet for as long as I live. I will also be telling me kids and their kids and so forth. I hope you read this Stelios
Regards
Richard
I myself have experienced a similar problem with Easyjet. Having initially paid for an ‘extra bag’ online, hoping to cover for my excess luggage, I had to pay big time for my 40kg baggage weight. But this is all explained however. But what they do not mention is the fact that sometimes an unfortunate person such as myself, having paid all these extra charges to get their baggage on the plane, would have to wait a week in order to get it home again. Which is what I experienced. Somehow my luggage, for which I had paid so dearly, did not get on my plane at all, and ended up lying around in some depot for a week. Despite my complaints and requests for compensation, Easyjet refuse to give any kind of recompense.
See you later ‘Easy’jet.
Thanks. Mike
I too had a bad experience with Easy Jet. I booked a flight from Ireland to London Stansted but when I arrived to check in at the airport in Ireland, I was told the flight was cancelled and would be booked on another flight. This caused me to miss my connection with Ryan Air in London (and their last flight of the night to my final destination)and they did not care one bit I had to pay extra to change my flight to one the following morning nor did they care I had to pay for a night in the hotel. I too complained and requested compensation to no avail. They pretty much said too bad and refused to recompense for anything. I have informed as many people as I can to avoid Easy Jet as if it were the plague.
Well I’m glad I read this before booking my flight… Seems like the Greeks never change !! If they cant take your money on holidays in Greece they’ll take it when you try to fly there or back with lots of over weight !!
sorry – but i have found easyjet a much better airline compared to ryanair – ryanair make their prices look attractive but once you have added on all the surcharges and baggage charges- the price doubles!! I have been less than 2 kilos overweight ( hold luggage – not me!) and they wanted me to pay the excess- how petty!! I left Spain and was allowed to carry my handbag on the flight separately to my hand luggage on return from stansted they insisted that i had only one item and therefore by adding my handbag to my hand luggage it made me overweight!! easy jet DO allow 5 kilos more to the hold luggage compared to Ryanair – needless to say I have a bit of a gripe with Ryan air through experiences over the years ( i live in spain and go back to the uk regularly) and easyjet in comparison is a high class airline!!!
I’ve finally managed to get my head round this-I’m due to fly from Glasgow to Malaga on EJ on Thursday.What worries me is that I’ve bought a brand new “big” bag, to get my, and my wife’s, stuff into one bag-obviously it will be over 20kg.
So I’ve contacted the EJ contact center who are “99%” convinced we can combine our allownaces-but they cant give me a number for EJ Glasgow to confirm it?
I then spoke to the Glasgow BAA operator, who after a straw poll of the office, reckon the chances are very slim of combining hold luggage allowance on budget airlines-they specifically had a go at Ryan Air.So I’ve now got a bag which I really cant use and/or I need another bag!!
Unbelievable-especially as the BAA operator told me
that EJ in Glasgow have expressly forbidden them from giving out their Glasgow number to EJ customers!
Did you discuss your problem with a solicitor ? The reason I ask is that the words “all bags must weigh less than 20kg” can be read two ways. I am not sure, but I believe that in law, the customer’s interpretation would be the only one accepted. The court would blame EasyJet for not making their words clear.
I just want to comment on the baggage allowance of easyjet. I had a flight from Tel aviv to London on Olympic airlines. I had one check-in luggage; and the wieght on the scale in Tel aviv was 17.5kg when I checked my bags in on my Olympic. I was glad to see that i was way under my baggage allowace. When I arrived in London to take my easyjet flight to Marrakesh, I put the same bag which was untouched, on the easyjet scale in london and to my Suprise it weight-in at 24.7kg (7.2kg difference)how is that even possible. Now can someone please tell are the laws of gravity different in Israel are things lighter there then in other parts of the world. Give me a break; Easyjet scales are fixed and they will make you pay no matter what, this is how they afford to make you think you are getting a better deal with their prices. I ended up paying more for my flight then if i would have just flown on Royal air maroc.
We have just purchased tickets to go from Cardiff to Murcia in October. We have paid to take a set of golf clubs with us, we did this last time with thomson fly and were allowed to take them for £6.50 each way which was great. However, after reading your comments I am really worried what the weight of the clubs must be as it is not very clear. Is the 14kg on top of the 20kg ie can they weigh up to 34kg or is 14kg the max we can take. If it is 14kg then I think I have paid to take only 4 of my clubs with me which is rediculous.
hi,just came back from spain, my sister and her boyfriend were over weight on luggage,2kg they were charged 18euros, i myself was also over my allowance 2kg, hey but i was not charged,dont know why though, can only guess that they liked me!!!! but lets face it folks all airlines are out to make money from us!! yet we still have to put up with late flights and their rules!!! all airlines are the same and no better than the next, but if we want to go to other country,s then we have no choice but to use the airline,s!!!!!!
none of you people get it, easyjet & ryanair are the modern day pirates of air travel sucking you in on a promise of fools gold then fleecing your wallets with a glint and the swagger of blackbeard himself leaving you to fight over the bones with his rabble.
sorry for the drama but when you travel with these pair of pirates you a very likely to be sailing close to the wind me harties arrrrrr.
I fly regularly from Stn and have always been charged if i am over the 20kg allowance-I personally feel its fair. They have a certain allowance for a reason, if theydidnt charge anyone they would loose money as they would have to pay more for the codt of fuel and would probably put thecost of the tickets up instead. By charging xs baggage they are keeping costs down for the people that dontneed to take lots of luggage. Oh and by the way-they do not fix thescales-i spoke to a relative who works for trading standerds and apparently they test the scales and its against the law to medle with them….they and the airport could befined a lot of money.
So Sorry , to hear all these comments about ej,Ilike a lot of you out there have been a good customer Iam off to Edinburgh 6th and attempted to book online as usual also hoped to do boarding card as I only have hand luggage.My method of payment was meastro card I tried for ages card repeatedly denied had no option but to use help line at £I PER MINUTE .EJ apparently having problems with maestro.Why could a message not be flagged on website??I could go on they JC
I also booked and paid for an ‘extra bag’ with Easy Jet and was told at the check in desk thatI was 15 kilos overweight. Because I had a virtually empty carry on case I proceeded to pack most of the excess into the carry on and throw away items that I didn’t need! Hence no charge. I like many couldn’t believe that one paid for an empty bag!!
Hi! Same story with me about EJ’s additional luggage policy, except it wasn’t applied when I left from Budapest, only when I wanted to come back… So I was standing at the check-in in Dortmund with two 20 kg bags (plus my carry-on) and was told that the extra money I paid online for the second bag doesn’t apply for it. I’ve NEVER heard with any airline before that extra allowance is not about weight, but about number of bags!!! I wish they would make it clear on their website, e.g. all bags ALTOGETHER must weigh less than 20 kgs.
Congrats to those brainies at EJ who came up with this fantastic money-making idea! Unfortunately, they will lose more passengers this way then make money. Too bad I won’t test their other tricks ever again…
I also had a terrible experience with EasyJet in Geneva where I had paid extra for sporting equipment (a paraglider), and apparently it meant nothing. Because I questioned this and asked for the supervisor, I was obviously barking up the wrong tree when she grabbed my carry on bag and insisted that it was too big and had to be checked! She had the nerve to handle my baggage and to declare it too large, even though I have flown with it on other easyjet flights. In Gatwick (where I landed), the easyjet agent agreed with me that the size of my bag was fine for carry-on. Therefore I issue you a warning:
WARNING FOR EASYJET GENEVA PILOTS: Crazy supervisor lady works at Geneva Airport! This woman is scary and wants to rip you off!
EasyJet customer service doesn’t seem to care about the incident – being made to check a bag and pay extra for it, even though it was the correct size, and paying extra for other baggage as well. They are CROOKS! I would NEVER recommend flying with them, unless you travel naked.
EasyJet are delibrately misleading people into thinking they are buying extra baggage hold (20Kg).
They are crooks, yes.
Even if their excuse is to mention the small print their large print says different and we are not all laywers.
well to be honest with you it makes it sound like when you read the website that you have to pay 5 pound for your first bag also the website is very misleading and i think that they are really taking the you knopw what out of people…..
anyway my flight is tomorrow with them lets see how much I get charged
thanks
bon voyage
Easyjet service desk staff at Lutton in London were the most rude,unhelpful, inconsiderate I have come across. Due to heavy traffic and road construction my wife and I were 3hrs by taxi from Deal to Lutton instead of the usual 2hrs….this before 6am in the morning!! We arrived at the service desk at 9.05am to be told the gates closed at 9am. (5mins!!) Apart from being rude and disinterested in the fact that we had to get our connection flight in Paris to fly home to Toronto, they said that “even if you were the queen, we would not let you through”
For an extra 70pounds we were put on the 3.30pm flight which didn’t help us with our connection in Paris and that flight was 11/2hrs late in boarding!! So they can be 11/2hrs late but you cannot be 5mins late!! The whole exercise cost us over CN$1,100 which we could ill afford.
I would never recommend Easyjet to anyone. There are other budget airlines to travel on.
Just read all the comments on easyjet, only confirms my worst fears, now they will taking over GB Airways with whom I usually fly with on a regular basis to Madeira. Do I want to fly on an orange bus with my knees under my chin, I think not TAP Air here I come.
I would just like to add to the above comments that when leaving Krakow airport to return to England, I had 2 bottles of vodka in my hand luggage. I should have known better. I knew that you were only allowed 50ml of liguid, but put it down to the fact that I had never flown or been abroad before. The people at Easy Jet explained, with some difficulty owing to the language barrier that the only way I could take it on board was to put it with my take it back to the check-in point. Only when I was in the queue did I realise that I would have to pay extra, but the lady could not have been nicer, and she put it on at no cost at all.
We’re due to return to the UK next week to visit family and give out xmas presents. Problem is we are 15Kg over weight. Thats 15 x £6 = £90. The flight ticket was only E60 euros one way.£6/Kg is extorsion. My case empty weighs that !!, golfers can take upto 12Kg clubs for nothing or for a small sum!! Why can’t I take an additional 15Kg bag based on the same criteria, weight is weight, why so much hassle, is it because its a real money grabbing thing like speed cameras are in the UK
I was flying out of Faro to London with easyjet and then out out to Miami… One of my bags was weighted in Faro @ just over 30kg for which easyjet naturally demanded excess bag payment.This same bag-untouched and unopened overnight was weighed at London Heathrow showing 27KG. The obvious quesiton is that if it is found that the machines in Faro are not correctly calibrated then there is a serious situation for the company to answer.
watch this space
hello all,
I have never had a problem with EJ and rate them far far higher than Ryan-scare, with whom I have never flown, altho I know people who have.
The wording of the 2nd bag clause seems utterly unacceptable however, but is more likely to be down to having been drafted by a prize wally than some machiavellian schemer. It’ll probably be overturned by a court: for this it would take *SOMEONE* to *TAKE* EJ to court, rather than just moaning about it.
Of course if you arrive late you will mess up; it is imperative to understand the business model of these airlines. They are cheap, meaning that you must take more care to arrive earlier. Hoping to make a connection from one to another is pushing it, especially in winter. They are also often heavily booked, another reason they are cheap. So, in midwinter, or in high season, once in a while you will get stranded somewhere and have to spend hours or even days in and around an airport. The budget airlines could attempt to manage such situations better than they do… but they will always arise on occasions.
Anyway it’s better to take the train. From Southern England to Southern Spain is now POSSIBLE with a stopover in southern France for example. Yes, you need an extra day each way, yes it costs more. But it’s still better.
Mr Squid
I too have had enough of both Ryan air and easy jet.
I have now decided to grow my own wings and fly there instead
Hello All.
Jeez what a bunch of moaners – but then i suppose the nature of the site encourages it.
Easyjet – Flown with EJ at leat once every week
Yes, have been caught by the excess luggage thing – if you travel heavy but want cheap, book 2 flights and get extra luggage. Jet2 were the first brainies to try this one but they all do the same now so beware. The weight is a fuel thing, the bags are a handling thing – I agree they could be clearer but they still have one of the heaviest allowances.
Connecting flights – you’ll succeed 90% of the time – if you dont want the chance of getting stranded – dont do it!! you had the intelligence to to scour the net to find them – you know the risk – so stop moaning!!
If you arrive late for check-in – TOUGH -you have security to clear after that – only allow an hour and take the risk – Why should 140 other people (who after all managed to get there), get held back.
Delayed and cancelled – Course it happens – All I can say is, know your rights and you’ll make money and get to where you’re going.
The staff – Some could be more helpful, smile more, feed you grapes and mop your brows – unlikely dealing with you lot.
The long and the short of it is – you want a bargain – fair enough but dont confuse bargain with cheap.
PAY CHEAP – EXPECT CHEAP and get on with it.
The only way to be sure of going from A-B is to walk! – as with the train!?! – it may take you a bit longer!
Anti-C
despite easyjets rule on strollers (they wont give them back until baggage reclaim which makes travelling with an infant on your own an uphill struggle) i was pleasantly suprised to find in majorca that despite the fact that my travel cot would not fit in my suitcase (if it had fitted it would have been over weight) even though they dont give an infant allowance they would still carry it for free, was totally expecting to have to pay the extra £5 for being overweight and would have paid it because obviously need the travel cot! though the stroller rule means i wont be flying easyjet again until my daughter is old enough to carry her own bag!
I’ve never used Easyjet. After watching the airline program and all the hassles people have I don’t want to use them.
I’ve flown loads of times with Ryanair and have never had a problem, always on time and far cheaper.
As with most of the budget airlines you have to watch your luggage weight.
right well im off snowboarding have 1 large bag which is arond 15k so im fine in that department,however i have my board bag, boots etc in another bag last time i flew i was not charged 4 this .does anyone think its goin to be a differnt story this time
I have just flown with EJ payed for my golf clubs but did not know that the weight limit is 12kg, I got charged £30.00 going out and £60.00 coming back with out extra items. It is not clear on the booking that the clubs had a weight restriction, and if some one from EJ could please let me know what clubs and bag I should take to be under 12kg it would help because I think if would be diffecult to keep under that weight. THANKS EJ for spoiling a good holiday
Beware EASYJET THEFT booking charge! Now Easyjet have their separate charge for your hold bag, OK, but BEWARE the charge is made on both outbound and return flights or else you can deselect and have NO hold baggage. I want to take stuff home to the UK on my outbound journey, but just come back with hand luggage i.e. no hold bag. I’m livid that I am now obliged to pay for hold baggage when I won’t have any on the return flight. It used to be possible to select ‘hold bag’ or not. This is no longer the case!! Here are the charges which are automatically doubled for return flights made in one booking:
GBP 3.99 Per bag, per flight (when pre-paid online) up to 20kgs
It’s no use paying for one journey with a hold bag at the airport because the charge is:
GBP 8.00 Per bag, per flight (paid at the airport) up to 20kgs
It’s the principle, not the price…
A tip for anyone going skiing or boarding is to take your boots as hand luggage in a boot bag so that you do not rack up your hold weight – the bag will fit the “cube” or you could just wear them !! as far as the officials are concerned they could not find any reason for not doing so – mind you do feel a bit of a plank walking on the marble floors in your boots!!!
I use Easyjet often and I recently went to Nice for a conference. We had some magazines so we ordered 3 extra bags. I was 60Kg over and had to pay £360 in extra baggage.
It’s an absolute con, there is a difference between terms and conditions and absolute common sense.
If I bought 4 seats to travel, we wouldn’t all be expeced to use 1 seat would we?
Maybe we would – it’s Easyjet
i can’t honestly somebody would be dim enough to think they could carry a whole extra aditional persons luggage allowance for £3.99. ARE YOU REALLY THAT STUPID.
Oh stop whining all of you! You get what you pay for. If you pay £9 with Easyshed to fly to London, dont expect anything in terms of service or staff compentence. You can fly with BA, get looked after and not have to pay sill baggage prices. I’ve never flown with Easycrap and never will, have none of you seen the TV program, did that not tell you something???? Tip – DONT FLY WITH BUDGET AIRLINES – The clue is in the name
I had the same Situation the other day from Luton to Geneva, and i went on their website and i booked 2 more extra bags and guess what i was over 48 Kg with all my clothing and books that i finished class in UK. Well you think that easy jet is a cheap company well me idea is this is how they make the money they charged me 288 British Pounds and i paid for the ticket 45 pounds. I swore that i will never fly easy jet again. No matter how cheap their flights are….
So make sure you don’t take more than 20 kgs. and make sure that you take a small bag with you meaning your laptop should be in that small bag too. Last time i had my lap top and a back pack i had to check my back pack the last minute and my back pack was opend and my Ipod was stolen…. make sure that if you do fly with easy jet have everything prefect so you don’t pay like you are flying with a number one company like Lufthansa. You sure pay a lot for lufthansa but you get the best service…
IT DOES SAY THAT YOU CAN TAKE UP TO 8 EXTRA BAGS BUT ALL OF THEM BAGS HAVE TO BE A TOTAL OF 20 KG NO MORE…
My son and I have just returned from a snow boarding holiday, my son’s bag weigh in just over 12kgs and mine was 24kg’s total of 36kg’s with no hand luggage. Easy jet would not accept the combined weight so we shifted 5kg’s of my items into my son’s bag. So saved £30 doing that. Have just booked with BA a bit more expensive but BA allow s you to take a sporting item (snow board) at no extra cost so actually works out cheaper.
Just a warning for anyone planning on taking their Ski boots onboard as hand bagage. There are now classed as dangerous weapons and will not be allowed through security.