Hand luggage is a requirement for most passengers so seems unfair to treat it as a ‘customer choice’ by adding an additional charge.
Commenting on the new costs, CEO of Loveholidays.com, Alex Francis said: “The recent decision by Wizz to introduce a hand luggage cost could well be as a result of a significant increase in passengers travelling to short haul destinations with hand luggage only to save money, with a report last year citing a 233% increase in hand luggage only passengers.
Whilst allowing customers to select certain items like inflight meals makes sense, because there is no point charging the traveller for services they don’t use – travelling with hand luggage is for the most unavoidable so it seems a little unfair to put this in the same ‘choice’ category as other ancillary costs that airlines levy.
Wizz have announced that by introducing this fee they will be able to reduce overall flight costs by £4.50 per passenger, whilst this may happen, I would think given the current state of the airline industry it’s far more likely that the additional fee will be absorbed by the airline.
Hidden charges have become a bugbear of holidaymakers and prices that can initially seem good value rapidly rise when all extra expenses are factored in to the equation so we imagine this won’t be well received with customers just seeing it as another way for companies to make money out of them.”
Tatiana is the news coordinator for TravelDailyNews Media Network (traveldailynews.gr, traveldailynews.com and traveldailynews.asia). Her role includes monitoring the hundreds of news sources of TravelDailyNews Media Network and skimming the most important according to our strategy.
She holds a Bachelor's degree in Communication & Mass Media from Panteion University of Political & Social Studies of Athens and she has been editor and editor-in-chief in various economic magazines and newspapers.
