CAA publishes extras’ chart

Ex-UK travellers are now able to compare the extra fees charged by airlines thanks to a new tool from the UK Civil Aviation Authority (CAA).

Last week, the organisation published a summary of the optional charges imposed by the top outbound airlines in an easy-to-use table document.  It includes information about luggage, in-flight meal and reserved seating fees, as well as other optional charges that could apply to carriers’ flights.

The new tool covers charges from a range of airlines, including Ryanair and easyJet, as well as foreign carriers like American Airlines and Air France.  For example, it highlights the one 23kg bag allowed by Air Canada for a fare between Europe and Canada, compared to the two allowed by British Airways.  Also highlighted is the £6 per flight, per passenger, handling fee from Aer Lingus for purchasing a ticket with a credit card, while Virgin Atlantic adds 1.5% to the headline fare.

This follows the UK Government announcing plans in December to impose a legislation that will ban excessive surcharges for using debit or credit cards to buy products like airline tickets.  The decision was the result of an Office of Fair Trading (OFT) investigation due to calls for businesses to be more upfront about extra fees, including airlines and booking agencies.  Consumer watchdog Which? got the ball rolling by filing a super-complaint with the regulator. www.caa.co.uk

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