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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.

  • Little Littlewood says:
    3 Jul3 July 12:25

    Can any one help me? I booked flights with EasyJet to Barcelona on 19th June, on the 20th added upfront seats (which was showing included large bag) now i have checked in the large bag has disappeared….. The only reason i booked up front was to include the large bag…..Easyjet are asking for another £22 each for the bag even though i have already paid £40 for upfront. What can i do? I feel this is misrepresentation! I can still find bit on there website saying Up front includes a large bag!

    • Dominic says:
      3 Jul3 July 12:35

      That’s a bit odd – I have a booking for 8 Aug from Pula to Bristol which was booked with seat selection and thus included large cabin bag – this is still showing if I go to the online booking.

      Give them a call, this might just be a mistake.

    • Travel Strong says:
      3 Jul3 July 12:58

      What is on your booking confirmation email?

  • Andrew. says:
    3 Jul3 July 13:56

    Email has finally arrived!

    Good news Andrew.,

    We’ve listened to what you’ve told us about using your cards abroad and have made a change which we think you’ll want to hear about.

    You’ll now pay zero first direct fees if you spend using your first direct Debit Mastercard® overseas.

    So, if you’re jetting off this summer, you won’t have to worry about budgeting for any unexpected extras. And your travel money will be hassle-free.

    Just remember to pack your first direct Debit Mastercard®.

  • Little Littlewood says:
    3 Jul3 July 13:57

    I spoke to them and they keep telling me to log a complaint! My booking confirmation shows no bag, just says up front seat. I thought it meant this was included and not listed separately. First i read it wasn’t, was today in this article

  • Bernard says:
    3 Jul3 July 16:20

    EasyJet. Huge misnomer.
    Nothing easy about understanding their carry on bag policy. People bash Ryanair but their policy is clear and understandable.

    • yorkieflyer says:
      3 Jul3 July 21:27

      Yes another vote for Ryanair. EasyJet were better bag and seat policy wise but have chopped and changed so that you don’t know what their offer is anymore

    • NorthernLass says:
      3 Jul3 July 21:54

      I didn’t find it that confusing, and I’m easily confused! The second option I was given was for 2 cabin bags and seat selection and it was free to pick any seat apart from row 1 and the exits. It didn’t seem to cost any more than my last couple of bookings.

      • NorthernLass says:
        3 Jul3 July 21:56

        This was “Standard Plus” and also includes speedy boarding.

    • Ian says:
      3 Jul3 July 22:21

      easyJet’s appears clear and understandable to me….if you want to put a bag in the overhead locker, you pay for it. Not sure what’s unclear about that.

  • Alan says:
    4 Jul4 July 08:02

    Out of interest if you’d just wanted the large bag would it have only cost £15.49 extra for the return or was that a lesser amount as you’d already paid for an upfront seat? Most of the time I pay for upfront it’s for the cabin bag is I suspect a lot may just pay for the bag and not upgrade the seat going forward.

    Re First Direct – not really that interesting, you’d be better with 1% back on top (and still no forex) with Chase!

    • Rob says:
      4 Jul4 July 08:09

      £15.49 was what EZ wanted for a cabin bag after I’d selected a front row seat.

      • Alan says:
        4 Jul4 July 08:38

        Thanks, just would have been interesting to see if that was fixed or changed based on seat choice.

        • Little Littlewood says:
          4 Jul4 July 11:18

          I am being asked to pay another £22.99 for each large bag on top of the £20 each for the seat selection (which told me it was included at time of booking!) I still have the Easyjet info stating a large bag is in fact included with Up front seats…..so how confusing is that!

  • Ben says:
    4 Jul4 July 09:14

    HSBC Global Money had surprisingly good fx rates when I used it recently – better than Wise or ofx!

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