I just read this article on line in the German magazine "Der Spiegel", which should be of interest to the FT Budget Forum.

Here is the URL or Link: http://www.spiegel.de/international/business/0,1518,496687,00.html

FYI - Menko

Most people here on FT know that,
but it's surely interesting for a lot of others!

:-)

But anyway, thanx.

"And Warentest warns that more than a few vacationers have been surprised at the gate by baggage fees. Ryanair gives you a 10-kilo carry-on for free. But then the gouging begins: Checked bags under 15 kilos cost €15 apiece, and €8 per kilo after that. Off to London with a 20-kilo bag? That'll be €20 for the ticket, €104 for the suitcase."

So the first 15 kilos costs €15 for the checked suitcase. The last 5 kilos should then cost €8 x 5 = €40 for a total of €55. Or did I read something wrong?

I just did a dummy booking between two Euro-zone airports on Ryanair.com .

If you book it ahead of time, each checked piece of luggage is 6 Euros. If you decide to check something at the airport, it costs twice as much or 12 Euros. This is one-way.

The fee for excess luggage over 15 kg is 8 Euros per kilo.

In the scenario mentioned, if the person has checked a 20 kg suitcase, the total cost for that will be (6 Euros base fee + 40 Euros) x 2 = 46 Euros each way.

What trips up some people, and has been discussed on this forum, is that if you do have several checked bags, the total combined weight of them must be 15 kg, or else you will be hit with excess baggage fees for each extra kilo.

I don't exactly trust the article, as it has cherry-picked its results and is obviously inaccurate on basic details.

Edit: Not sure why that devilish smiley is appearing at the top of this post!