How the budget airlines rake in billions from extras

WANTING to escape the UK for a few days, I decided to cheer myself up by tapping in ‘cheap flight Spain’ into an internet search engine, writes TOBY WALNE.

On the home page ‘Cheap Flights to Spain from £9.78 – Ryanair’ is the top option. Press on the link and the cost immediately rises by 21p but the deal still looks too good to be true. Can the extras really add up to more than the ticket price? For a good seat with legroom, jumping the queues and taking a 10kg hand bag on board while packing a suitcase I soon end up paying more than five times the initial price – and that is just one way.

Even when I try to opt for the cheapest seats pop-up windows warn me to ‘avoid the middle seat’ and ‘don’t risk random allocation’ offering 25 per cent discounts for opting to pay extra for the journey.

I must also battle my way through ‘car hire sale’ and ‘exclusive deals on hotels’ promotions – designed to get me to part with even more money – before the airline allows me to simply book the flight I want.