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easyJet drops free large cabin bag on certain fares

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We published a review of easyJet Plus yesterday, looking at whether it is worth the £215 annual fee.

(By the way, a reader posted a discount code – EJMC001 – that saves 15% on your first year.)

What we missed is that easyJet Plus is now better value because standard tickets have become poorer value.

For tickets booked from 19th June 2023, Up Front and Extra Legroom seats no longer come with a free large cabin bag. All you receive is the standard tiny underseat bag allowance.

Anyone paying for Up Front or Extra Legroom now needs to pay again to bring a standard sized piece of cabin baggage onto the aircraft. Speedy Boarding is automatically included with this.

As a free large cabin bag is a benefit of easyJet Plus, it is now easier to justify the annual fee. However, note that you still need to tell easyJet that you intend to bring a large cabin bag with you. If you don’t, it may be taken off you at the gate if the aircraft has hit its cap of ‘overhead locker’ bags.

This is very much a negative change for me. I flew down to Seville two weeks ago on an easyJet ‘Extra Legroom’ seat. Without a checked bag, I secured my usual British Airways Club Europe seat (1C) for just over £100 all-in, one way. A quick look at easyjet.com shows that I would need to pay an extra £15.49 to book the same seat today to factor in my hand baggage.

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Comments (96)

This article is closed to new comments. Feel free to ask your question in the HfP forums.

  • NigelthePensioner says:
    3 Jul3 July 05:21

    Dont forget FD will give you THEIR FX exchange rate which won’t match M/C which is always marginally the best rate with Visa a close 2nd.

    • Jay-Marc says:
      3 Jul3 July 10:46

      First Direct say: “Any foreign currency payments (or cash withdrawals in a foreign currency) are converted to GBP by using the Mastercard Exchange Rate applying on the day the conversion is made.”

  • Tariq says:
    3 Jul3 July 05:27

    I used HSBC Global Money partly on a recent USA trip and I felt like there was about 0.5% in it compared to Curve where I put most of my spend in the end. Interested in any other views.

    Could be useful for locking in a balance at an advantageous rate in advance of a trip given the recent fluctuation in rates.

  • C says:
    3 Jul3 July 06:08

    Barclays Prem. (maybe Barclays in general?) has an equivalent ‘Travel Wallet’ to HSBC’s Global Money.
    It’s a virtual wallet in the same way, I topped some € up from my £ account on Friday: rate was €1.13 to £1 after reference exchange rate of €1.16 minus margin of 2.75%.
    Similarly all € debit card transactions are then fee free. It’s a useful feature IMO.

    • TT says:
      3 Jul3 July 06:55

      Why would you pay a 3% fee when Wise or fee free credit cards exist?

    • The Original David says:
      3 Jul3 July 13:16

      So it’s “fee free”, after you’ve paid a 2.75% fee? I think I have some magic beans to sell you…

      • C says:
        3 Jul3 July 19:52

        I take the point(s) although a 2.75% margin / fee is, for me, acceptable with the ultimate outcome being (a) €1.13:£1 (better than a high street exchange) and (b) convenience with no faff.
        Each to their own though.

  • Ryan says:
    3 Jul3 July 06:33

    ‘Flew down to Seville’ 🤦🏽‍♂️

  • Paul H says:
    3 Jul3 July 06:35

    I think the easyJet change is actually good news, for me at least.
    Personally I like to book extra legroom seats because I want … Extra legroom!
    Recently I have been unable to do this because people had been booking them purely for the cabin bag.
    This was very clear because on multiple occasions I was looking at an almost empty seating plan but all the extra legroom seats had been taken. This had literally never happened before they bundled together legroom and baggage.
    So, I appreciate this takes away a baggage perk but at least now legroom seats will now be available again to those who want them.

    • yorkieflyer says:
      3 Jul3 July 08:09

      Ha but will they now be cheaper without bag tho’ I very much doubt it

    • NorthernLass says:
      3 Jul3 July 09:53

      I booked PRG-MAN last week and row 1 was £3 pp, row 2 -7 £0. I ended up picking row 2 because it’s easier getting off if you can put a bag under the seat in front. On our last flight we were in row 1 but everyone piled on and took all the overheads at the front so we were pretty much last off, which was very annoying!

  • Hugo says:
    3 Jul3 July 06:40

    The cost of cabin bags on EZ can get extortionate though, they seem to scale with the ticket cost – bought a return GVA to FAO which cost me 580 francs total of which 114 francs were for the luxury of being able to bring a bag…

  • Alex says:
    3 Jul3 July 06:46

    It is worth flagging that for now at least this doesn’t seem to be a price hike from EZY – the extra legroom / up front seats are now cheaper. It was always silly to have have everyone who wants a cabin bag sat together as you’d end up with completely empty overheads at the back and people at the front unable to find space.

  • The real Swiss Tony says:
    3 Jul3 July 06:52

    Interesting (and welcome) move by FD who I bank with. I’ve just been setting my kids up with HyperJar cards so we can use the MRT in Singapore with contactless and without them having to pay through the nose in card fees each time (it’s like a free version of go Henry and i’ve been happy enough with it so far). I wonder to what extent the competitive landscape means we’ll now see other banks follow?

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