Airlines make hand luggage price comparisons harder

Airlines are increasingly excluding hand luggage from basic fares, making it harder for travellers to compare ticket prices, ORF reported. The change affects not only low-cost carriers but also airlines such as Austrian Airlines and Lufthansa.

Vienna Airport in Schwechat has been busy for weeks, but some passengers have faced unexpected charges before departure. One traveller from Switzerland said he was asked to pay as much again for his bag as he had paid for the flight.

“I was at the counter and was suddenly told to pay the same amount again for my bag,” he said. “I said: ‘Sorry, something is going wrong here.’”

There have also been many enquiries about hand luggage at the Austrian Chamber of Labour’s consumer information desk at the airport. Consumer protection expert Sandra Nowak advised travellers to check the conditions carefully, particularly when their outbound and return flights are operated by different airlines.

In such cases, different baggage rules may apply. Hand luggage that was included on one flight may be too large or not included at all on the other, significantly increasing the total cost of the ticket, Nowak said.

Calls for EU-wide rules

Nowak called for uniform hand luggage rules across the European Union, saying that different included services currently make it difficult to compare flight prices when booking.

She also advised passengers to take screenshots of their booking so they can prove what baggage they purchased.

Travellers who booked before a fare change retain the conditions that applied at the time of booking. For Austrian Airlines and Lufthansa, this applies to bookings made before April 28.

Some passengers questioned by noe.ORF.at said the difficulties had prompted them to rely more often on travel agencies when choosing flights.