How to avoid the airlines’ money grab

Having luggage in the hold can be expensive. Only six of the airlines compared by the Civil Aviation Authority included one as standard Whatever you do when you fly, don’t forget to print your boarding pass before you leave. Ryanair charges £20 for those who forget to do it Weeks in advance you should book flights to Morocco for the best deal Authority (CAA) show Aer Lingus charges between £9.99 and £66.99 to reserve, depending on the type of seat, while BA’s charges range from £7 to £50. Ryanair charges between £4 and £15.

Which?, the consumer group, studied more than 3,000 trips and found that paying to reserve seats was a waste of time nine out of 10 times. Of the 10 most popular airlines that charge for seat allocation, just Ryanair and Wizz Air said they did not try to seat together families and groups who had not paid, although both denied actively seating groups apart.

Baggage charges are another source of annoyance for regular fliers. Ryanair courted controversy when it said anyone who did not pay for “priority” service could take only one small bag on board.

Of the airlines compared by the CAA, the only ones to include a checked bag as standard were American Airlines, BA (on most fares), Emirates, Lufthansa, Thomas Cook (on long-haul flights) and United Airlines.

Mr James pointed out that the cost was double the headline figure as you had to pay to take the bag on holiday and bring it home.

Paying for changes to your booking can be galling, although worse is paying to print a piece of paper.

Some airlines will allow a free change of name on a booking, but not all. According to the CAA, Aer Lingus charges £80, while Ryanair demands £160 from those who leave it until they get to the airport.

Those who forget to print their boarding pass before they arrive at the airport face fees of £20 with Ryanair or £17.50 with Jet2.

Telegraph Money has previously disclosed how airlines catch passengers out via in-flight exchange rates. Research by this newspaper found passengers paying in euros were frequently charged more by British airlines than those who paid in pounds.

Of the 10 airlines surveyed, Flybe charged the highest mark-up for an on-board sandwich: those who paid in sterling were charged £4 (€4.53 at the time) while those who paid in euros were charged €6, a mark-up of 32pc.