When Alison Evans travelled from Belfast to London to visit her father with her nine-year-old son, Arthur, the last thing she expected was a confrontation with easyJet staff over baggage fees.
The 36-year-old was stunned when she was told her cabin bag did not meet the airline’s rules and that she would need to pay a £48 charge.
After all, she’d measured her suitcase at home and used the same bag on multiple flights earlier this year. However, airline staff wouldn’t budge and she was forced to cough up.
But now, she’s bagged a refund thanks to some very simple quick thinking: she took a photo before boarding.
Worried she might be denied boarding, Alison says she felt intimidated into paying the fine, which caused her to feel an unexpected financial strain.
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Recalling what happened, she says: ‘At the gate there was a woman at the desk who approached me and got me to put [my bag] in the little holders they have there. She said ‘it’s too big [with the handle]’.
‘There’s a handle on the side of the bag and that must’ve been slightly sticking up and I said I could push the handle down. Even with the handle it still fit in the measurement checker but she was adamant that my bag was too big.
‘I measured all my bags before I went on and I’d taken this bag with me twice this year already. She said she was going to charge me £48 because “it clearly didn’t fit”.’
Alison describes the interaction as ‘rude’ as a card machine was ‘thrusted’ at her and she wasn’t even supplied with a receipt.
Fearing another unpleasant interaction, to avoid another fee Alison went to purchase a large cabin bag for her returning flight, only to discover the online charge was only £32.
Feeling ‘conned’, she took to X with photos of the suitcase in the easyJet sizer, captioning the images ‘please explain why I was charged £48 for this bag when it fits’.
Alison later complained to easyJet about her experience and the airline agreed to invetigate. They later refunded her fee.
What are the different kinds of airline baggage?
There are generally three different types of luggage passengers can take on a flight.
- A checked bag is a larger bag that must be checked in at the desk when arriving at the airport. These are kept in the hold during the flight and usually have a maximum weight limit of 23kg.
- A personal item, also known as a small bag, must be able to fit under the seat in front of you and is usually no bigger than 40x30x20cm.
- Cabin bags must be stored in the overhead locker, usually weighing up to 10kg and no bigger than 56x45x25cm.
‘I just felt very victimised and that I didn’t have a choice to pay it. It’s just lucky I had the money in there,’ she says.
‘It really put a financial strain on me for the rest of the week. To have them slap a charge like that on me when I hadn’t even left was a bit much because I was already travelling on a very tight budget.’
“Not only did they charge me more than what it said on their website, I just felt conned because my bag met the requirements but they stung me for an extra £16.’
Alison is now advising anyone travelling with the airline to measure their bags, and if they run into any trouble with baggage fees, to keep their cool and take lots of images.
Commenting on the case, an easyJet spokesperson said “Bag sizing is inclusive of wheels and handles and we provide very clear information on our bag sizing policies and options to customers.
‘Given the bag shown appears to fit within the gauge, we are investigating further and will refund the extra charges incurred by the family as a gesture of goodwill if an error has been made in this instance.’
The airline has since agreed to refund Alison, but the mum isn’t satisfied.
‘I feel it could’ve been dealt with a lot better,’ she says, ‘it’s put me off using the airline again.’
