Advanced options
Book bags ONLINE AT BOOKING: the same bag costs more added later and multiples more at the airport (gate-bag charges are the punitive tier). The family maths favours fewer, bigger bags: one 23kg shared beats two 10kg singles on almost every fare table. Weigh at home (GBP 8 luggage scale vs GBP 12/kg excess), and know your airline's free cabin allowance: the under-seat bag is free on even the barest fares: the overhead cabin bag increasingly isn't.
What The Baggage Fees Calculator Works Out
- Return baggage bill: checked bags x the fee each way x two legs. A 20-23kg hold bag runs GBP 25 to GBP 60 each way on the low-cost carriers depending on route and season, priced dynamically like the seat, so a four-traveller, three-bag return lands at GBP 200 plus before anyone boards.
- Shared-bag saving: what you keep by squeezing the group into one fewer bag. Per kilo, one big shared bag beats several small ones on almost every fare table: one 23kg at GBP 35 against two 10kg bags at GBP 25 each is the standing example.
- The fee-dodging canon: wear the heavy items, decant toiletries into the minis the 100ml rule mandates anyway, treat the allowance as a household total, and on short trips play the under-seat-bag-only game.
- Flight legs (advanced): fees are charged per flight, so a connecting itinerary with two flights each way pays on four legs. Set it to one for a one-way trip.
- Cabin bag fees (advanced): the overhead cabin bag has migrated to paid status (GBP 6 to GBP 40 each way) across much of the low-cost sector, policed by sizers at the gate, while the under-seat personal bag stays free. Enter the fee and how many the group needs.
- Excess weight charges (advanced): kilos over the allowance at the desk cost GBP 10 to GBP 14 each. An GBP 8 luggage scale is the fastest-amortising gadget on the site.
- Deciding-late penalty (advanced): the same bag costs more added after booking, more again at check-in and punitively at the gate (GBP 50 to GBP 70). This card shows the extra you pay over the booking-time price for bags added late.
- Grand total for the trip (advanced): hold bags, cabin bags, excess weight and late penalties together, with the per-traveller figure to add to the fare. The bundled legacy fare frequently beats the unbundled low-cost one once a family's luggage is priced honestly.
- Baggage fees per year (advanced): the grand total multiplied by trips a year, for frequent flyers weighing a cabin-bag-only packing habit or a courier service for bulky cases.