Which? Study: Low Cabin Bag Prices Rare on Budget Airlines

A new study by consumer group Which? has revealed that the lowest advertised prices for cabin baggage on three major budget airlines—easyJet, Ryanair, and Wizz Air—are available less than 1 percent of the time, prompting an investigation by the Advertising Standards Authority into easyJet's claims.

The research examined nearly 1,500 cabin bag prices across eight popular routes for each airline, including both peak and off-peak dates in August, November, December, and February. For easyJet, which advertises cabin bags starting at £5.99 each way, none of the 520 flights checked offered that rate. The lowest price found was £23.49, with an average of £30. Ryanair's advertised starting price of around £12 was available on just two of 634 flights, or 0.3 percent, while the average fee came to £20.50. Similarly, Wizz Air's lowest rate of about £8.77 to £13.11 appeared only twice across 338 flights, or 0.6 percent, with an average cost of £28.93.

Which? argues that these fees, often for bags fitting overhead lockers, represent an essential expense for many of the tens of millions of passengers using these carriers annually. The group contends that the lack of transparency means...