Easyjet has revamped its checked luggage policy, adding a new lighter option and increasing the existing 23kg allowance.
The new 15kg allowance costs from £8.99 (although this can rise to as much as £29.99 depending on the route selected) and is only available to purchase online.
Meanwhile the existing 20kg option has been increased to 23kg, and costs between £13.99 and £33.99 when booked online, £37 when purchased at the bag drop desk, and £47 at the boarding gate.
The carrier said that the new options mean that “those heading off on a short break no longer need to squeeze everything into a small cabin bag, whilst giving more peace of mind to customers on longer breaks who already travel with Easyjet’s standard hold bag by increasing their allowance by an extra 3kg”.
Easyjet’s Andrew Middleton said that in the last year almost half of passengers’ hold bags had contained 15kg or less, “whilst there were also millions of customers who required more weight than we previously allowed with the 20kg bag”.
The amended policy applies to new bookings only – customers who have already purchased a 20kg allowance for future flights “will keep their existing allowance and will still be able to add weight to their bags up to 32kg as per the prior policy”.
Customers remain able to pool their total weight allowance where they are travelling with friends or family on the same flight and booking.
Rival low-cost carrier Ryanair recently announced plans to amend its carry-on luggage policy, requiring non-priority passengers to hand over larger cabin bags at the gate, although this change has now been delayed until mid-January, “to allow customers more time to adjust to the changes, particularly during the busy Christmas period”.