Easyjet "Hands Free" option
 

Had been considering checking my rollaboard into the hold while booking a recent Easyjet flight. Price during online booking IIRC was going to be 15 pounds or so. Decided to lug it instead. At the airport I noticed that a "Hands Free" service was being offered in the check in area. I checked the bag in for 4 pounds, and it came with priority handling to boot. Bargain!

My question is whether there is ever any point to paying the online checked baggage fees on Easyjet for a bag that meets cabin size requirements. Is the Hands Free option always available?

You can normally check your bag for free at the gate - assuming the flight is fairly full.

Just go to the gate and ask for your cabin bag to be checked in. This would be done free of charge.

Thanks for the responses. I'm familiar with gate checking, but using the "Hands Free" option I was able to check my bag in at the check in counter, and I didn't thus need to bring my bag through security and haul it to the gate. It was essentially the same as traveling with checked baggage, except that I paid a lot less for the service than Easyjet charges for it online. I'm wondering if anyone who travels regularly on Easyjet knows whether this is always offered.

This is a new policy so it might not be available everywhere.

I've just done some searching on internal systems and newsletters.

By the looks of it, it is available on French, Spanish, Swiss, Portugese flights as well as Gatwick and Bristol flights.

As far as I can tell, it is not a replacement for hold luggage, but merely a expeditious and convenient method to get your luggage at your arrival airport quicker.

"HANDS FREE

Following the very positive uptake of Hands Free in France, Spain, Portugal, Switzerland and Bristol, with good feedback from both our customers and the Ground Crew, we will now offer all customers departing LGW the opportunity to upgrade to the Hands Free experience.
With Hands Free, customers travelling with or without a hold bag can drop off their cabin bags at Priority Bag Drop to be placed in the hold. For a small fee, all their bags (including hold bags if any) will be marked as priority and then delivered fast at arrivals, before anyone else’s. With this, customers will also enjoy a hassle-free experience at the airport (no need to unpack at security and carry a trolley bag through the airport) and will enjoy priority boarding (right after Speedy Boarding).

Prices are £4/€5/CHF6.- for an individual or £10/€12/CHF15.- for a group of 3 to 6 people (“Family Bundle”)."

The difference is that Hands Free is only available for cabin sized bags. If you turn up with full sized trolley bag, you will be charged hold bag fee.

Interesting policy, but I doubt it will last. It allows a family of three to check in 3 cabin size bags. As there is no weight limit for Easyjet cabin size bags, each of these bags can easily weight 10-12 kilos. That is 30 to 36 kg for 10 euros. -
way less than a normal checked bags would cost. However, I doubt that a gate agent will have a way to know if they have checked these bags or not, meaning they can also bring another cabin size bags with them.

That could probably be indicated on the BP, but even without it, there will be a baggage tag and gate agents would easily know, whether they will enforce it or not is another story.

While in some ways the concept seems ripe for abuse, maybe it's a win-win. Easyjet gets to collect a bit of revenue by checking luggage at the check in counters that would sometimes otherwise be checked free of charge at the boarding gate on busy flights. I liked the service as I preferred to get rid of my bag before security, but I wasn't going to check it in if regular baggage fees applied.

It's flagged on the boarding pass scanner when people board and T&C's are quite clear that if you turn up with another carry-on you will be charged as if you had a checked luggage. Not the best of ideas to try to game this one...

Basically the incentive for easyjet is to:

a) monetize on the fact that most flights are full and they end up checking hand luggage (they accept 70-75 bags per flight then the rest goes in the hold)
b) avoid delays and make the gate area more efficient in removing the need to check a large amount of hand luggage.

I suspect that as this grows it will apply only to extremely busy flights and the price point may change also.

Not sure what can be flagged on my mobile BP that I have received before checking in these bags, but I guess you know something that I do not.
My guess would be that even if there will be some code word linlked to my BP, it will probably the same as for checked luggage and really no one is going to delay the boarding because of this.
As for T&C - this thread is the only relevant link that google can find about this option. If you can show me the link to some official info - it would be very helpful.
If Easyjet wants people to use this option, I guess it this information should be available not only near check-in areas, as people with cabin baggage would not go there, since most of them have their BP printed in advance.

Nothing needs to be flagged physically on your BP, but when scanned at the gate the agent would be able to know that you checked in a bag since it will be in your reservation...
Whether they will delay boarding or not is a different story, I don't think they will process it any different than if your bag is too big to fit the sizer e.g.

I am sure that it is visible somewhere in the system, but when you put your BP next to a scanner -it will just scan it and let you go. If an agent will be looking at his screen for every single pax - whether he used this option or not - this will certainly delay the boarding, i.e. the opposite of what Easyjet wants to achieve with this option.

No, when you select hands free option a comment will be flagged in your booking and when boarding require confirmation from the gate agent to allow boarding. It's the same thing which happens if you have an exit row seat, booking with a high number of flights in it (I think above 12 or so).

The gate agent will have to confirm you don't have any hand luggage, otherwise charge you for it. The comment can't just be ignored, it has to be confirmed to allow you to board (and them to process the following pax). Also gate agents do look at their screens as they are supposed to check ID, seat number and speedy boarding/easyjet plus also.

The T&Cs are quite clear that you will be charged as if you showed up with a second piece of hand luggage, so the gate agent either collects the fee from the pax or refuses boarding, it's not much more complicated than that.

Note that the easyJet app actually advises users the day of the flight about the hands free option (at airports where offered), so it is being advertised both at airport counters and on the mobile app.

As hands free does come with priority boarding, it is meant that people who don't comply are found earlier in the process - thus more time to collect fees or offload them in case of non-compliance.

Thank you, this is really informative.
I checked in online on a website and using app a few days ago for the flights that should have this option, but I totally missed any announcement about it. And I can not find it mentioned nowhere on Easyjet website, so again - any link to T&C will be appreciated.
As for priority boarding - if I will use this option, I would really see no need to be among the first pax on a plane and would wait until most of the passengers already boarded, as I do not need to secure a place for my bag, so really no added value here.
It may be a good idea for those who wants to bring something that is not allowed in hand -luggage (e.g. bottle of local wine not from a duty free shop), especially one-way.

It also shows how much money is being made with checked luggage. Assuming they offer this service to everyone (not just for a few bags that otherwise would be gate-checked due to a full cabin), the fees would be pretty close to what the airport charges Easyjet. At 4 bucks per bag, presumably even cheaper for non-priority, it really puts the normal checked luggage fees into perspective.

The confirmation required by the gate agent is presumably the same as if one has changed a FLEXI ticket after printing a boarding pass: the computer beeps, and requires them to press a button before they can process the next passenger.

This is really useful if one already has the right to a second hand carry ( easyJet Plus cardholder, FLEXI fare, Up Front or Extra Legroom) when it allows one to check in an additional small bag much more cheaply than a standard suitcase. In fact I think for FLEXI tickets the charge is zero.

Actually, the standard Easyjet checked baggage fees are not really outrageous, £22 on a 1.5 hour flight when BA charge £62!

But these are not "normal checked bags", so your analogy fails.

These are bags that the customers are fully entitled to bring on board, free of any charge. So, the company gets £30 for nothing, effectively.

The link to the easyJet info on 'Hands Free' is:
https://www.easyjet.com/en/help/bagg...d-hold-luggage

I think this is a fantastic service. Yes, you have the bother of going to the drop-off counter and waiting at the carousel at the other end but for £4 you can avoid major security hassles, moving your bag all through the airport AND, a major bonus, is no restrictions on liquids!

Manchester airport security have replaced the human looking at the scanner with artificial intelligence which automatically selects every maxi-sized cabin bag for hand-searching - consequently causing delays of 40 mins+ EVERY TIME. I am very happy to pay £4 to avoid that - even though it should not happen, it does.

I have a maxed-out cabin size trolley case of exactly 56cm x 45cm x 25cm which, with careful planning, is enough for an 'infinite wardrobe'.

If booking 'Up Front' or extra legroom seating or a Flexi fare (or you are a Plus member) you are also allowed a second bag of 45cm x 36cm x 20cm - e.g. a small backpack - to take onboard again with no weight limit. Great for laptop, camera, other valuables and things needed in-flight. These categories can also use the priority bag-drop lane and board first - if you want (I prefer to be last-on and first-off).

Previously you could do this for free - at Gatwick you went to the self-service machine and a member of staff did an over-ride. It was called voluntary something.

Easyjet Hands-Free availability
 

Hi all,

I have a question about EasyJet Hands-Free. Basically, easyJet declares "This offer is only available on selected flights". Apparently, if you get in touch with them, they can't tell you more.
How is it possible to understand if a flight can benefit from this offer?
It might make the difference if you want to invest 5£/€ and board a cabin baggage where you have maybe a bottle of wine.

Cheers
S

It depends upon predicted loads.

They pro-activily offer this to you in the days/hours before your flight - to get people to pay for the privilidge of checking bags (which they might have to gate check anyway due to forecast loads and predicted bin space).
Equally they sometimes in the hours before departure email people to offer it free.

The key point though is if they offer it to you, and you take them up on the offer (pay) then it is guaranteed. So you can use it for a bottle of wine in your example.
If you need to know that you will definetly have a checked bag, then add that to your booking in the normal way (paying normal prices). If however you find you need to do that in the final run up to the flight, it can sometimes make sense to gamble that this, or the free version, will be offered.

26 flights with EZY this year, various routes and I have not flown on a route that does not offer hands free. IMHO they say selected routes only because they want to encourage pax to purchase hold bag which is much more expensive than the hands free option. They are hoping that hands free will be last minute airport decision, so it helps them to minimize number of bags in the cabin/maximize revenue.

Since they brought out hands free I have not experience offer of free bag check in at the check in desk, only at the gate.

Does anybody know if you can still buy duty free after using the hands free option [this would be at Stansted]?

Yes, that is fine as duty free purchase is on top of your allowance.

Sorry to drag up on old thread, but I've a couple of questions about this service, I'm flying LGW to FUE and have booked 4 of us hands free, we also have a lounge booked from 3 hours before the flight and we are hoping to take advantage of the full 3 hours.
Bag drop for EasyJet is normally open from 2 hours before the flight, would there be any chance of dropping our cases off earlier than this so we can get to the lounge asap.
What worries me is if we can't drop our bags off early and decide to take them through security with us, will we get any problems when we board the flight from the gate agent, will they try to charge us for extra bags thinking we have checked bags in hands free when we haven't.
Hope all makes sense, any clarification would be appreciated

I know this is an older thread - just curious. If I have my small backpack (laptop sized really) plus a gym bag that I usually can bring on, will I be able to check that hands free and just bring on my under seat bag?

I did - much cheaper than paying for checked baggage and it gets priority dleivery at destination

Yes. Just be discreet about the 'second' bag.