Aer Lingus - New bag fees for carry-on €5.99 or €35 at the gate

Gael23

This is not quite what it seems.

You are only landed with this charge if you go for the basic fare type, it’s included in all others. And it can be avoided by checking in your 10kg bag free of charge at the check in desk.

I agree it’s lousy but just not quite what’s being reported in the media

Noxegon

You are only landed with this charge if you go for the basic fare type, it’s included in all others. And it can be avoided by checking in your 10kg bag free of charge at the check in desk.

Sure, if you want to wait an indeterminate amount of time for your bag to (hopefully) arrive at the carousel after landing.

Short haul air travel has gotten progressively less and less pleasant over the years as the seats get smaller, the ancillary charges pile up, and in-flight advertising for who-knows-what becomes standard practice. (Some years ago I was on an extremely late CDG-DUB flight, and despite the fact that it was well after midnight the crew saw fit to wake everyone up with a lengthy PA about perfumes that were exclusive to Aer Lingus...)

I am now at the point in my life that I'd gladly pay for a better class of service, even if it costs a multiple of the economy fare, but virtually nobody offers that type of product out of Ireland any more.

Strumms

Noxegon wrote: »

Sure, if you want to wait an indeterminate amount of time for your bag to (hopefully) arrive at the carousel after landing.

Short haul air travel has gotten progressively less and less pleasant over the years as the seats get smaller, the ancillary charges pile up, and in-flight advertising for who-knows-what becomes standard practice. (Some years ago I was on an extremely late CDG-DUB flight, and despite the fact that it was well after midnight the crew saw fit to wake everyone up with a lengthy PA about perfumes that were exclusive to Aer Lingus...)

I am now at the point in my life that I'd gladly pay for a better class of service, even if it costs a multiple of the economy fare, but virtually nobody offers that type of product out of Ireland any more.

And every product is in the Cara / boutique magazine too... so people can avail of reading it and finding out, or asking the crew as they make their way up the aircraft with the sky shopping cart....

Thing is the crew earn commission on these sales, so there is an incentive to not giving a fûck as to the comforts of the passengers in that instance. SALES..

donkey balls

Me and the missis normally bring a carry on bag so it's a quick on and off the plane when going on holidays, And not having to wait at the carousel, We normally head to the Canary Islands so flight is always full.
Over the last few years EI would send me a text message the day before saying we can check in bags free of charge, And to be fair to EI the aircraft never pushed back on time either in DUB or ACE.
I'm trying to get away in October for a break so will have to wait and see how it goes with EI, One thing I've noticed is the price of flights has more or less doubled since this f**king pandemic.

Tenger

embraer170 wrote: »

Companies write all kinds of stuff in press releases. Airlines are worse than most at selling new revenue generators as customer enhancements.

I have to agree.
remember a couple of years ago when they outsourced their lost and found system.
The then COO made the announcement stating it was to "improve customer service by utilising a professional company"
2 years ago my youngest left their headphones onboard. I knew the seat number and the flight number. It was going to cost E25 to get them back, I went up to Argos and got a new pair for E20.

Gael23 wrote: »

This is not quite what it seems.

You are only landed with this charge if you go for the basic fare type, it’s included in all others. And it can be avoided by checking in your 10kg bag free of charge at the check in desk........

Important consideration

Gael23

I travel with medication I can’t be without so it must come on board with me in case my checked bag goes missing. I can’t take the risk.

Tenger

Gael23 wrote: »

I travel with medication I can’t be without so it must come on board with me in case my checked bag goes missing. I can’t take the risk.

Small personal item (laptop bag or rucksack sized) is still allowed in the cabin.

Last time I flew with them we were asked at check-in if we had any medication in the bags we were checking in.

Noxegon

Tenger wrote: »

Small personal item (laptop bag or rucksack sized) is still allowed in the cabin.

Unfortunately the dimensions Aer Lingus use for this (25x33x20cm) are is too small for quite a lot of laptops.

My MacBook Pro is just shy of 35cm on its longest dimension, and you'd need to add at least another centimetre to that for the bag.

hurleronditch

Noxegon wrote: »

Unfortunately the dimensions Aer Lingus use for this (25x33x20cm) are is too small for quite a lot of laptops.

My MacBook Pro is just shy of 35cm on its longest dimension, and you'd need to add at least another centimetre to that for the bag.

I’d hazard a guess if you bring a small laptop type bag, well within 2 of the dimensions and marginally over the third no one will stop you.

smurfjed

costs two fold to purchase and to tanker said fuel to destination.

No it doesn’t. It’s flight time dependent.

goingnowhere

smurfjed wrote: »

No it doesn’t. It’s flight time dependent.

The key variable is price, there is an equation/cheat sheet, but its time and cost, further you go the bigger the price difference needs to be to make it sensible, you are burning fuel to carry the extra weight

I did see EI tanker once to Berlin, nothing to do with fuel prices but someone in ops had the cop on that if they didn't turn around quickly the flight would miss the 2300 curfew and everyone would claim EC261 and a hotel for the night (all 36 of us). We made it out, just.

Weight is everything at the very least even if the number of bags remains the same, you can check in for free but it will get weighed.

In COVID times someone in ops is probably copped on that they have few if any logs reporting delay off gate due passenger/luggage issues.

Locker10a

Gael23 wrote: »

I travel with medication I can’t be without so it must come on board with me in case my checked bag goes missing. I can’t take the risk.

Same as every other airline, take your medicine onboard in a small personal bag.

Nijmegen

For me this is about pricing every little convenience of travel. I travel light and use the overhead, precisely because I want to get out the other side of the airport from the door of the plane to the ground transportation in as little time as possible. Otherwise I wouldn't mind checking the bag for free.

EI is now (well, remains and is becoming ever more) a low cost carrier with low cost service and high cost base... I was reading in the Sunday Times (behind a paywall) that EI has about half Ryanair's losses in the pandemic with 1/12th the size.

“To lose half of what Ryanair lost [€815 million] when you’re only a 12th its size — that’s the scale of what [Lynne Embleton] faces,” an aviation pundit noted.

It is what it is at the end of the day - advertise lower cost fares at the front and make it all back up on the back end - but it erodes any loyalty IMO, especially given (the now well worn debate about) the way the loyalty program went to s--t since the days of Gold Circle. But I guess that's much of aviation in general, not just EI.

cson

kevinandrew wrote: »

True. It’s now common to see the priority queues at Ryanair and Wizz stretch longer than the standard queues. Anyone standing towards the back of the priority queue is essentially boarding with the last of the passengers. The rush to board aircraft is probably worse that ever because of it.

Really should take a leaf out of Southwest's book - the first 60 boarding spots are kept for frequent fliers/business fares/priority boarding upsells. The latter is priced dynamically too.

L1011

Nijmegen wrote: »

It is what it is at the end of the day - advertise lower cost fares at the front and make it all back up on the back end - but it erodes any loyalty IMO, especially given (the now well worn debate about) the way the loyalty program went to s--t since the days of Gold Circle. But I guess that's much of aviation in general, not just EI.

Gold Circle was only functional as a loyalty scheme for the absolute top tier of business travellers, the system failed to be useful for even fairly frequent leisure / occasional business travellers - who do quite well on BA Avios - once TAB closed.

Tenger

Noxegon wrote: »

Sure, if you want to wait an indeterminate amount of time for your bag to (hopefully) arrive at the carousel after landing.

I'm actually old enough to remember when this was a normal part of air travel.

Locker10a wrote: »

........
Remembering typically a narrowbody aircraft has overhead locker space for around a third, maybe slightly more depending, of the overall seating capacity. Everyone brings cases onboard simply isn’t feasible.

A mate of mine did a test on an A320 about 10 years ago. Used a standard size wheelie bag to count the storage space.
She figured out that it can hold 76 of them. (the bag she used was a crew bag so a little larger that "standard cabin size") Obviously that left space on top and at the size for others rucksacks, handbags etc.

Locker10a

Tenger wrote: »

I'm actually old enough to remember when this was a normal part of air travel.

Indeed, commercial passenger aircraft were not designed at all for the passengers to bring cases into the cabin!!They are designed and built with a baggage hold as are airports with baggage systems. This idea of bringing a case onboard was actually invented by low cost airlines and became the norm.
If less people carried a trolly bag through the airport and onto the aircraft the whole experience would be better, from faster security and boarding/disembarking. So personally I think this is a great move, hopefully more people will now check in bags(as it’s free) and this will eliminate some of the the fuss at security and boarding the aircraft.
Remembering typically a narrowbody aircraft has overhead locker space for around a third, maybe slightly more depending, of the overall seating capacity. Everyone brings cases onboard simply isn’t feasible.

devnull

kevinandrew wrote: »

Wizz Air was the first airline I experienced cabin bag charges with. The current policy was introduced in 2018, a small backpack was now your free cabin bag item while the 10kg trolley bag now had to be purchased with Wizz Priority fares. The argument was that it would reduce delays during boarding but the only real winner was the airline revenue department.

When Wizz first did it, they had different levels of charges on it, depending on the duration of the flight. I was at one airport where someone put a poster up complaining about it saying it was effectively 'fuel surcharging' their bags.

The whole Wizz Air club where you had to pay a certain amount a year to get the lowest prices was really something that I disliked. At least with Ryanair the lowest fares were open to everyone without paying for such thing.

markpb

Locker10a wrote: »

If less people carried a trolly bag through the airport and onto the aircraft the whole experience would be better, from faster security and boarding/disembarking. So personally I think this is a great move, hopefully more people will now check in bags(as it’s free).

It’s not so long ago that most people checked their bags and carried fewer items on board. Then airlines started charging for that.

Locker10a

markpb wrote: »

It’s not so long ago that most people checked their bags and carried fewer items on board. Then airlines started charging for that.

Exactly, low cost carriers created this issue, now they’re having to revert

bikeman1

The low cost airlines, and EI is trying to be one, are always trying to find ways to squeeze more out of their passengers to increase their average spend. There is nothing new with this. Then something changes operationally and they make another change and so on and on.

The reverse is true too, to save the number of baggage handlers and check in staff required the airlines drove the size of luggage down and then encouraged everyone to bring their bags on board, vastly reduced the amount of staff required to bring your bag from the carousel to the aircraft and back again.

Now (well pre-covid), on time flights are very important with potential for large delays if flights don't get away on time. The cost benefit has swung to have the now smaller bags loaded on the aircraft by staff as that's where they were going anyway when the bags got sent down from the cabin.

For me personally, there are some flights - particularly those flights coming home to Dublin where I just want to get off and home ASAP, I will pay for having my bag on board. Others like when I have plenty of time on the other end will throw it in the hold. I never understand priority boarding so each to their own.

The joys of low cost aviation!

markpb

bikeman1 wrote: »

I never understand priority boarding so each to their own.

If I'm travelling by myself, I couldn't care less about priority boarding. When I'm travelling with my kids, I'll happily pay for it because it's easier to get them on with fewer people on board and, crucially, there's a better chance of putting their bags overhead so I'm not walking a marathon between seat and bag fetching toys, colouring pencils, snacks, nappies, etc.

JeffKenna

I actually like checking my cabin bag in before security. Going away for a weekend or a night it's great to bring whatever toiletries I want without worrying they'd be taken off me at security.

titan18

To me, it's I hate queuing, and it's nice to get on to the plane, sit down, get comfortable, put the bag away easily etc. Coming in mid way down a queue, you're climbing over people and hoping there's space for the bag. Having the window seat and climbing over people to get into it is not fun.

RunningFlyer

I would say this summer I wouldn’t be worrying about queuing for bags at the other end as I’d say the Qs for immigration (usually before baggage) will take longer to process anyway with the Covid cert checks etc.

Otherwise, I support the policy as frequent flyers, connections and higher fare pax are unaffected, and the price point is low enough on the saver fare that if you really want to hang on to your bag you can.

Once they don’t start increasing the price based on flight length though, that will just p*ss people off.

theguzman

I am a pretty frequent flyer and in the last 18 months I have not used Aer Lingus once and Ryanair only for one return flight. I hate carryon luggage with a passion. I prefer checked always as I can carry more stuff including liquids, and I often would buy a bottle of some native liquor or specialised spirits and bring it back. I wonder how will this be implemented on connecting flights to full service carriers?

Advantages are that I don't have to pack like a soldier heading into battle and spend hours folding or rolling clothes to fit into a crappy carryon. Most recently I flew Qatar Airways from Sao Paulo to Doha and I had 2 x 23kg pieces and I checked in my carryon also and only took my laptop bag with my meds into the cabin. A few weeks earlier it was the same story with Turkish Airlines on the outward to South America, less hassle at security and dragging stuff through the airport also.

<SNIP>

My choice nowadays is usually the flag carrier of whatever European country I'm going to, inevitably it is often British Airways, Ryanair only gets considered if it is €100 cheaper or as was the case last year they were the only airline operating in the worst days of the virus. I have travelled to ten countries in the pandemic across five continents and covid made travelling a breeze due to lesser numbers but we all know this is not economically feasible for long.

Noxegon

theguzman wrote: »

Ryanair is Ryanair and you know you will be treated like dirt but at least they are not masquerading as something good

There's been little to choose from between short-haul EI and Ryanair for quite some time now.

The only real differentiating factor is that Ryanair tends to be on time

blackvalley

theguzman wrote: »

.........
In the last five years I have only voluntarily booked Aer Lingus once or twice and the rest of my flights were connections via LHR or AMS.......

I have travelled all over Europe with Ryanair and have never been " treated like dirt ". Perhaps iv just been lucky or my perception of dirt differ from others.
Luckily I have never been seated beside " Scumbags " either for that matter .:)

cson

theguzman wrote: »

............
My choice nowadays is usually the flag carrier of whatever European country I'm going to, inevitably it is often British Airways, Ryanair only gets considered if it is €100 cheaper or as was the case last year they were the only airline operating in the worst days of the virus. I have travelled to ten countries in the pandemic across five continents and covid made travelling a breeze due to lesser numbers but we all know this is not economically feasible for long.

Have you flown on a BA A32N?

Because I can't believe you'd admonish the FR product if you have.

BA's regular Y A32N seat is on a par with Spirit & Frontier.

Locker10a

cson wrote: »

Have you flown on a BA A32N?

Because I can't believe you'd admonish the FR product if you have.

BA's regular Y A32N seat is on a par with Spirit & Frontier.

Indeed; it’s the same seating as Easyjet and I believe TAP have the same down the back in their euro economy too... sadly it’s just the reality of economy these days.

Also regarding BA... don’t they board by groups !? And you’re assigned group is based on you’re fare level... so basically the more you pay the more priority you get.... and the have the same problem with cabin luggage.... go figure