If you have been postponing you summer holiday until the school holidays are over, then chances are you will be getting ready to jet off in the next few weeks.
Of course it makes sense to dodge the sky-high prices of peak summer season if you can, but it seems a lot of bargain airfares are not quite as cheap as they seem once you get past the basic seat price.
For example, one "low-cost airline" is currently charging its passengers an extra £50 on top of the ticket price if they want to check a suitcase into the hold. Perhaps there are a lot of very light travellers out there, but I for one would find it close to impossible to go on holiday for a week or more with only hand luggage.
This is a fairly minor example of the gauntlet of charges and fees increasingly faced by passengers, however, with everything from a two per cent charge on credit card bookings to financial penalties of up to £160 to correct the spelling of a name on a reservation.
Holidaymakers are then encouraged to pay extra to reserve a seat of their choice, pre-book an in-flight meal or extra legroom, and in some cases will have to stump up even more just to check-in at the airport instead of printing out their own boarding pass at home – even though they may have to visit the check-in desk anyway to deposit their luggage.
And if you happen to have lost the boarding pass you printed out earlier, expect a £15-20 fee to have the airline re-print it.
The problem of so-called "hidden charges" has become so pervasive that earlier this summer the Civil Aviation Authority (CAA) announced it would conduct a review into whether these costs are costs are being presented in an "open and clear" way.
The regulator said enforcement proceedings, including court action, could be taken against airlines found to be cheating passengers.
A CAA spokesman said: "You've got the headline price of the ticket, but are there any additional things that people have to be aware of that they will have to pay for?"
The airline industry claims these fees help to subsidise the low air fares we have come to take for granted.
However, Michael Green, founder of the US website CaseHub, which is currently building two class action lawsuits against airlines including Ryanair over hidden fees, said this was a "lazy myth".
He said: “The price of an air fare primarily consists of tax and things unrelated to passenger costs. Fees sometimes lack transparency and, more frustratingly, are often gratuitous.”
CaseHub hopes it will win at least £315 million in damages from Ryanair if it succeeds in taking the Irish carrier to court.
Hidden charges are not the only sting in the tail for air travellers, however. Airport parking charges, including escalating pick-up and drop-off fees, are another bugbear with Edinburgh and Aberdeen airports recently criticised by the RAC as among the UK's worst offenders
Then there are the "penny-pinching" cutbacks including the decision by British Airways to replace the second meal service in Economy with a fun-size chocolate bar on flights under eight-and-a-half hours.
It is enough to take the fun out of flying.
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