Short-haul passengers flying with Aer Lingus will be charged for checked-in baggage from January 17 next year.Travellers will be charged a fee of four Euros for each checked-in bag when booking in advance online, or eight Euros per bag for luggage checked-in at the airport.
Enda Corneille commercial director of Aer Lingus says: "Baggage charges are becoming standard in the competitive short-haul sector." He adds: "We believe our baggage policy will enable the airline to save costs as a result of lower handling fees at airports, the impact of which will ultimately be passed on to the passenger in the form of lower fares."
The checked baggage allowance will remain the same at 20Kg per passenger. Passengers will also be able to check-in online from early December. Flights booked before August 9 this year are exempt from the new fees.
In other news, from September 6 transatlantic business class passengers will have a checked baggage allowance of two pieces, with each piece weighing a maximum of 32kg. For economy passengers the two pieces must not exceed 36kg in total. The new policy is noticeably more generous than BA's baggage allowance of a total of 23kg in economy and 46kg in business. (BA's new baggage policy takes effect from October 11 - see online news June 15).
Interestingly, Aer Lingus passengers flying long-haul from, say, London-Shannon-New York, will not incur the short-haul baggage charges even if they take the full long-haul baggage allowance.
For more information see flyaerlingus.com.
Report by Felicity Cousins
