Airline hidden fees revealed: Here’s where to find savings

23/05/2025

Travel insurance experts at Quotezone.co.uk have sifted through the extra costs across eighteen European budget airlines to reveal which carriers hit passengers hardest with add-on charges.

The experts analysed fees for extra leg room, standard seat selection, cabin bags, luggage costs and late airport check-in fees to determine the true cost of flying with each airline.

European airlines with the highest additional fees

1. Vueling

Their findings revealed Spanish airline Vueling, which offers cheap flights to major European cities, charges the most for extra fees.

The airline charges over £90 for a 20kg hold bag, and with other optional add-ons like seat selection, cabin bag and extra leg room, the fees can reach £163.36.

2. Ryanair

Second on the list is one of the best-known budget airlines in Europe, Ryanair, which hits passengers with add-ons totalling £152.99.

With Ryanair, travellers need to be prepared to check in online in advance, as failure to do so can result in a hefty airport check-in fee of £55 per person. Additional costs also come from selecting seats and bringing extra luggage, with a 20kg checked bag costing nearly £45.

3. Dan Air

In third place is Dan Air, which began operating regular passenger flights under its own brand in June 2023, after spending several years providing charter and wet lease services for other airlines.

Passengers flying with Dan Air can end up paying an extra £117.33 on top of the ticket fare for optional add-ons, as well as an airport check-in fee of £12.62.

4. easyJet

Following close behind is the British low-cost carrier, easyJet, which is one of the largest airlines in the world, operating 1,099 routes across 35 countries.

Despite its scale and low ticket fares, easyJet’s extra charges can make a seemingly cheap flight significantly more expensive, pushing the overall cost up by £114.96.

European airlines with the cheapest additional fees

Iberia Express

At the opposite end of the ranking is Iberia Express, a Spanish low-cost airline owned by Iberia, operating short and medium-haul routes from Madrid to feed into its parent’s long-haul network.

With Iberia Express, travellers get their 10kg cabin bag included in the price, checked luggage for £26.10, standard seat selection from £5.05 and extra leg room for £10.95 – totalling at just £42.10 – almost four times less when compared with Vueling airline.

Other airlines that don’t charge heavily for optional extras include Turkish airlines AJet and Pegasus, German carrier Eurowings, and Czech airline Smartwings, with extra fees ranging from £50.40 to £76.32.

The priciest hidden airline cost

Budget European airlines collectively appear to earn the most from hold luggage (20kg and over) per passenger, totalling £661.18 across all analysed airlines.

On average, holidaymakers who want to take a hold bag will need to pay an extra £37 on top of their ticket price. While six of the airlines still include a free cabin bag, the majority charge passengers an average of £28 for bringing a cabin bag on board.

While most airlines don’t charge for airport check-in, travellers should be cautious, as some carriers such as Jet2, Wizz Air, Ryanair, PLAY, FLYONE, and HiSky, can charge up to £55 if passengers fail to check in before arriving at the airport.

Quotezone.co.uk helps travellers compare travel insurance products and find real savings.

Additional costs on budget European airlines flying from the UK

Extra costs per flight

Rank	Airline	Extra Leg Room	Choose Standard Seats	Cabin Bag	Hold Bag	Airport Check-In	Total Of Optional Extras
1	Vueling	£12.63	From £5.89	£51.37	£93.47 (20kg)	Included	£163.36
2	Ryanair	From £21	From £10	From £23.50	From £44.49 (20kg)	£55.00	£152.99
3	Dan Air	£21.04	From £8.42	£25.25	£25.25 (23kg)	£12.62	£117.33
4	Easyjet	From £29.49	From £7.99	£30.99	£46.49 (23kg)	No charge	£114.96
5	Play	From £17.60	From £8.80	£31.45	£38.25 (20kg)	£9.24	£105.34
6	Km Malta Airlines	£12	£6	£46.23	£36 (20kg)	No charge	£100.23
7	Jet2	from £28	From £11	10kg hand luggage free	£36.50 (22kg)	£15	£90.50
8	Volotea	From £21.05	From £12.63	£23.16	£32.84 (20kg)	Included	£89.68
9	Flyone	£32.36	£7.40	10kg included	£33.62 (20kg)	£15.13	£88.51
10	Transavia	£15.13	£7.56	From £24.37	£39.50 (20kg)	No charge	£86.56
11	Wizz Air	From £8	Free	Free carry on bag	£65.25 (20kg)	From £11.50	£84.75
12	Hisky	From £22	From £9	£17	£26	£9	£83
13	Norwegian	£22.90	£15	£17.90	£25 (23kg)	No charge	£80.80
14	Smartwings	£29.68	£12.72	8kg bag included	£33.92	No charge	£76.32
15	Pegasus	£25.40	From £11	£16.09	£18.63 (20kg)	Included in ticket	£71.12
16	Eurowings	From £10.23	From £6.82	£24.72 (8kg)	£18.76 (23kg)	£4	£64.53
17	Ajet	£18.80	£10.50	8kg included	£21.10	Included	£50.40
18	Ibera Express	£10.95	£5.05	10kg included	£26.10	Included	£42.10

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References
Top image credit – istock.com:Thanh Ho

Methodology
Research was based on one-way flights from the UK to destinations within Europe, departing in June 2025. (Prices accurate as of 13.05.25)

Quotezone analysed all major European budget airlines that operate from the UK to
Europe – https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_low-cost_airlines

Quotezone used the following sources for each of the 18 airlines analysed, and selected the cheapest possible base fare before adding on the selected extras:

https://www.easyjet.com/en/
https://www.jet2.com/en/#flights
https://www.ryanair.com/gb/en
https://www.wizzair.com/en-gb
https://www.smartwings.com/en/
https://www.flypgs.com/en
https://www.flyplay.com/en-gb
https://www.eurowings.com/en.html
https://kmmaltairlines.com/en

https://flyone.eu/en/
https://hisky.aero/en/
https://www.transavia.com/home/en-uk
https://www.norwegian.com/
https://www.iberiaexpress.com/en
https://www.volotea.com/en/
https://www.vueling.com/en
https://ajet.com/
https://danair.ro/en