The French favor low-cost planes because of the unbeatable ticket prices.
But we often forget to count the options when choosing.
Baggage, placement, food, insurance… This is how companies make up for it.
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Inflation: prices are soaring
Long viewed with suspicion by travelers, low cost flights, that is to say low prices, now represent nearly 50% of French air traffic. Be careful, however, of the attractive ticket prices. If it was initially a question of financing these reductions by reducing the size of seats to increase their number and the service on board to the strict minimum, the companies are now resorting to a stratagem to, casually, systematically increase the initial cost: billing for ever-increasing options or supplements. And more expensive.
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A seat close to a window or that of your companion, wifi, an electrical outlet, cancellation insurance, a meal, a drink, and above all luggage transport… Even Transavia, the low-cost airline subsidiary of Air France , the last resistance to offer it for free, has been charging, since April 3, from 15 euros more, for cabin baggage, to be placed in the compartment above the seat. A sign of total standardization, for an additional cost ranging, on the scale of all low cost airlines (Ryanair, Easyjet, Jet 2, Vueling and therefore Transavia), from 10 to 75 additional euros for this service alone.
Transport of goods in the hold
To the point that it is common today for the accumulation of supplements to exceed the price of the tickets. “In any case, we are trained to pay a little more each time, so we fit into the mold. We are told a low price but we know that they will increase it”, comments fatalistically, a traveler interviewed by TF1, in the news report to see in the video at the top of this article. Another even happily says “willing to spend 10 euros more to save time” on arrival, keeping your luggage rather than having to wait for it in front of a conveyor belt when leaving the hold…
The hold, in fact, largely explains this additional cost. Low cost companies make it profitable by loading freight goods on it. What “represents approximately 25% of the revenue we record on each flight”, slipped to TF1, in 2022, the general director of one of these companies. This also deprives airliners of space for their passengers’ luggage.
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The latter are, moreover, subject, at the time of booking, to a real “tariff jungle”says our reporter, who had to spend several hours in front of a screen to try to compare prices, including the different supplements. “Depending on the destinations and companies, the price of cabin baggage may be higher than that of hold baggage, on the outward or return journey”, he testifies. The price of a seat on the same plane can vary from 7 to 26 euros.
Supplements represent “between 20 and 30%” of the turnover of low-cost airlines
“It is estimated that, for low-cost airlines, the percentage of turnover generated by paid options is between 20 and 30%”, assesses, for his part, Nicolas Hein, deputy general director of sales and marketing of Transavia. Before admitting that the objective of his company, “today at 20%, is expected to reach 25 quite quickly”…
How far will this frantic quest for profitability go? The European Parliament, in any case, took up the subject in October 2023, seeing in the multiplication of these options and the resulting difficulty in comparing prices, “hidden fees” and an “unfair competition in the market”. The European Commission even followed suit at the end of November, asking for more transparency and standardized prices from the airlines concerned, in “a reasonable period of time”… From ? Nothing. Finally, Transavia has announced the end of free cabin baggage transport. As well as an increase of 53%, from 2019 to 2023, in its revenue per passenger, thanks, precisely, to paid options.
