To Carry on, or not to Carry on?
On my last trip to Europe I took the following 8 flights in just under 3 weeks (actually 10 since we had to stop in Toronto on the Winnipeg-London route). In February 2017 I had gone to Europe for 3 weeks with a carry-on so I knew I could do it.
1/ Carry-on used in February 2017.
2/ Carry-on used November 2017.
Money
The difference this time was that I chose to bring a backpack instead of a rolling suitcase. I knew that going with only a carry-on I would save money, but I was curious about how much money.
I checked all the airlines’ websites and came up with the following table. It is worth noting that there are two prices. The airlines give you a discount if you pre-buy your luggage, while booking or while checking in. If you show up at the airport and have a checked bag that you haven’t already paid for, they charge you more.
|
Airline |
Departure |
Destination |
Internet Price |
Airport Price |
||||
|
|
|
|
GBP |
CAD |
GBP |
CAD |
||
| 1 |
WestJet |
Winnipeg |
London |
– |
$ 25.00 |
– |
$ 25.00 |
|
| 2 |
FlyBe |
Cardiff |
Paris |
£ 24.00 |
$ 40.00 |
£40.00 |
$ 66.67 |
|
| 3 |
British Airways |
Paris |
London |
£ 30.00 |
$ 50.00 |
£65.00 |
$ 108.33 |
|
| 4 |
British Airways |
London |
Paris |
£ 30.00 |
$ 50.00 |
£65.00 |
$ 108.33 |
|
| 5 |
Air France |
Paris |
Clermont-Ferrand |
– |
$ 20.00 |
– |
$ 35.00 |
|
| 6 |
EasyJet |
Lyon |
Barcelona |
£ 20.00 |
$ 33.33 |
£37.00 |
$ 61.67 |
|
| 7 |
British Airways |
Barcelona |
London |
£ 30.00 |
$ 50.00 |
£65.00 |
$ 108.33 |
|
| 8 |
WestJet |
London |
Winnipeg |
– |
$ 25.00 |
– |
$ 25.00 |
|
|
Totals: |
$293.33 |
$538.33 |
||||||
You realize pretty quickly that you can save some serious cash here.
If I would have had a checked bag for each flight and not prepaid, I would have paid $538 just for baggage fees. Seeing as I paid $695 for my roundtrip flight from Winnipeg to London Gatwick, this seems ridiculous and excessive to me. But I guess we have to realize that as airfare prices go down this is what will be going up.
Dimensions
Another interesting point here is that I was coming from Canada with my carry-on and therefore would have had the same bag for 3 weeks. Below is a summary of the allowed sizes set out by each airline. I multiplied them together to get the volume in centimeters cubed (cm3) because you have to think that one cm more in height and one less in width between airlines won’t make a difference, but seeing the allowed volumes demonstrates how some airlines really differ from others.
My backpack is listed as being 55 x 35 x 22 cm = 42 350 cm3. This falls midrange in “allowed” dimensions, but I did take all these flights and didn’t have a problem. It is valuable to mention that wearing your backpack while checking in is an excellent idea, and seems somehow to reduce the chance of them asking to inspect it!
| Airline | Departure | Destination | Carry-on Baggage | Volume (cm3) |
| WestJet | Winnipeg | London | 53 x 23 x 38 cm |
46322 |
| FlyBe | Cardiff | Paris | 55 x 35 x 20cm |
38500 |
| British Airways | Paris | London | 56 x 45 x 25cm |
63000 |
| British Airways | London | Paris | 56 x 45 x 25cm |
63000 |
| Air France | Paris | Clermont-Ferrand | 55 x 35 x 25 cm |
48125 |
| EasyJet | Lyon | Barcelona | 56 x 45 x 25cm |
63000 |
| British Airways | Barcelona | London | 56 x 45 x 25cm |
63000 |
| WestJet | London | Winnipeg | 53 x 23 x 38 cm |
46322 |
Tale of Caution
If you do decide that it is worth paying for a full-sized checked bag, be careful with the cheap airlines. After living in Paris for a year, I was flying to Bristol to travel a bit then go back to Canada. We were flying with EasyJet and I had paid for 2 full-sized bags online. When I got to the counter, already distressed from packing up my life after an amazing year abroad, they informed me that one bag was fine, but the other one would be charged at 20 euros per kilo because paying for the second bag only bought the bag, but not the weight in it.
I know.
It doesn’t make sense. The total was going to be over 300 euros, after I thought I had checked all my boxes and prepaid for the suitcases. I ended up taking one with me, and having a friend bring one at a later date. But I was grossly unimpressed with them! I have flown EasyJet since, but only when I have to, and only with a carry-on bag.
This might seem like a lot of work to calculate, but I think it is worth it to know before you go. But it is always so worth it in the end.
3/ Arras, France