Is Ryanair Britain’s worst airline? Families hit with hundreds of pounds of ‘hidden extras’ for flights after broken email links, lost QR codes and the airline’s own IT glitches mean they cannot check-in online

• Passengers get in touch with MailOnline after being hit by airport check-in fees
• Some claimed this was despite their phone breaking or an email link not working

Dozens of Ryanair passengers have told MailOnline how they suffered a similar fate as an elderly couple forced to pay £110 to print their boarding passes at an airport.

Ruth Jaffe, 79, and her disabled husband Peter Jaffe, 80, were charged £55 each at London Stansted on August 11 after they mistakenly downloaded their return ticket.

Ryanair insisted that the couple were ‘correctly charged the airport check-in fee’, adding that it ‘regrets’ that they ‘ignored their email reminder’ to check-in online.

But MailOnline has been inundated this week with emails from families, couples and solo travellers revealing they were also stung by Ryanair’s airport check-in charge.

Some claimed this was despite their phone having broken while away on holiday, the QR codes not coming through in the airline’s app or the link not working in an email.

It comes as a study by NetVoucherCodes found Ryanair has the biggest ‘hidden fees’ of any airline in Europe when compared to the original average fare, at 344 per cent.

Among the MailOnline readers who got in touch to share their story this week was the Irvine family from Bangor, County Down, who had to pay £275 for two adults and two children to check-in on a Ryanair flight from Belfast to Malaga on July 26.

The Irvine family of five from Bangor, County Down, had to pay £275 for two adults and two children to check-in on a Ryanair flight from Belfast to Malaga on July 26. Pictured: Simon Irvine, 43, his wife Bettina, 46, and their three children Neve, 14, Connor, 12, and Matthew, 12

Emma Morgan (front left), 45, who was flying from Bournemouth to Croatia with her partner Scott Chapman (back left), 43, and their four children Ella (back right), 16, Freddie (front middle), 15, Maya (back middle) and Poppy (centre), both 12, had to pay £330 to check-in

They said they were told to pay £55 for each of them – husband and wife Simon, 43, and Bettina, 46, and their children Neve, 14, and Connor and Matthew, both 12 – after the QR codes failed to come through on the Ryanair app before the flight.

What is Ryanair’s check-in policy?

Ryanair states that passengers must check in on the Ryanair website and print or download their boarding pass before arrival at the airport – up to two hours before the scheduled departure.

Online check-in opens 60 days before the scheduled departure if passengers have purchased an allocated seat.

Customers can be allocated a seat for free if they check-in online between 24 and two hours before a flight. They have to pay more if they want specific seats, such as seats next to each other.

Once passengers have checked in online they can print copies of their boarding pass, or download them to their mobile phone, up to two hours before the scheduled departure time.

The boarding pass must be printed on a single A4 page or downloaded through the Ryanair app.

Passengers cannot check in online during the two hours before their flight’s scheduled departure time. 

Unless the passenger has a ‘Plus’ or ‘Flexi Plus’ ticket, if they do not check in online more than two hours before the scheduled departure, they will be charged the airport check-in fee of £55 per passenger.

This must be paid before the check-in desks close 40 minutes before the scheduled departure time.

Bettina Irvine told MailOnline: ‘As requested 24 hours before the flight I checked us in with Ryanair on their updated app and put in all five passport details and checked the information and ticked the relevant boxes.

‘I tried to go back to ensure I had ticked the box to save my husband’s information for the return journey, and when I went back into the Ryanair app to check the booking, it would not allow me to go back as it said we had already checked in.

‘We never received the QR codes through though. On arrival at the airport two hours before departure, we were informed we had not checked in – yet all our details had been inputted correctly and all our passports information etc was visible.’

She said they were then told they would be charged a total of £275 to check them in and provide the boarding passes, because the QR codes had not downloaded on their app.

Mrs Irvine continued: ‘We had to obviously pay the money or not get on the flight and miss out on our holiday.

‘We spoke to a manager and was told they would make a note on their system that all our details had been inputted and were visible and they gave us a number to contact regarding a refund.

‘Once through departures we phoned the number and were told to submit a complaint form which we did from departures. After four emails going back and forwards from their customer care team we received the standard reply of that we had not checked in online and this was why we were charged this.

‘The email did not acknowledge that we had provided all our details which were logged on their system and that a manager had made a note regarding this and the check in person had provided their details for reference.’

She said that after four email requests later asking for a manager or a higher authority to go to, Ryanair said they would not do anything.

Ms Irvine has now gone to the Aviation Alternative Dispute Resolution scheme and is also hoping that the BBC’s Rip Off Britain can intervene. She added: ‘£55 per person is a ridiculous amount of money to just print out a boarding pass.’

Jackie and Bill Andrew, from Strathaven in South Lanarkshire, said they had to pay the airport check-in fee in Malaga five years ago and said they have never flown with Ryanair since

Sonia and Tony Hinson, who were flying from London Stansted to Nantes about a month ago, had tried many times to book in online before their flight but the link would not work

Another MailOnline reader falling foul of the airport check-in policy was Emma Morgan, 45, who was flying from Bournemouth to Croatia with her partner Scott Chapman, 43, and their four children Ella, 16, Freddie, 15, Maya and Poppy, both 12.

READ MORE Ryanair insists retired GP and her husband were ‘correctly charged’ £110 for boarding pass mix-up and says it ‘regrets’ that they IGNORED their email reminder

Mrs Morgan, who lives in Bournemouth, told MailOnline that she was charged £330 – six lots of £55 – because she had not checked in online prior to their arrival at the airport.

She told MailOnline: ‘I did not realise the online check in was compulsory – and, as we had paid to be seated together and had bags to check-in, I thought it would be easier to do at the departure desk.

‘It was devastating to be honest, as it took a huge proportion of our spending money and it was already a budget holiday due to being short of funds.

‘When the assistant told me, I asked if I could do it online there and then, but he said I had missed the deadline and there was nothing he could do and no ‘magic button’ he could press. It was the worst possible start to our holiday.’

She claimed that, having looked back at emails from the airline, the policy ‘absolutely isn’t made clear enough’, adding: ‘So gutting. I have no idea how they justify taking all that money from me to print our boarding passes.’

Among the other Ryanair passengers who got in touch with MailOnline this week was Jackie Andrew, from Strathaven in South Lanarkshire.

She and her husband Bill Andrew had to pay the same check-in charge at Malaga Airport five years ago and said they have never flown with Ryanair since.

Mrs Andrew told MailOnline: ‘Our boarding passes were on my phone which had broken on holiday. Staff were so rude and completely unhelpful and we had to pay the fee for them to print them on paper.’

Also having to pay up were Sonia and Tony Hinson, a British couple living in New Zealand who were flying from London Stansted to Nantes in France a month ago.

Anna Plimmer, 41, had a similar experience when flying with Ryanair from Barcelona to Manchester, and ended up having to pay €120 (£103) to check in at the desk

Andrew Minchin, 61, and his partner Delyth, 60, had to pay the £110 Ryanair fee to check-in at the airport when travelling from Bristol to Krakow before the pandemic

Mrs Hinson said that her husband had booked through a third party, and although they tried many times to book in online before their flight, the link would not work.

She told MailOnline: ‘We thought we would be able to sort it out at the airport desk. She tried the link as well and confirmed it didn’t work.

READ MORE We also fell victim to Ryanair’s check-in policy – and were forced to pay €60 to print out two pieces of paper or miss our flight home

‘We had no option but to pay the charge of £110. Also, they made us put our carry-on luggage in the hold. We just put it down to experience.’

Mrs Hinson added that her husband also booked another flight and got mixed up with the arrival time, when they were meant to be connecting with another Ryanair flight.

Just five minutes after booking, he tried to change the flight but no refunds or changes were allowed, so they ended up having to book another single flight.

Also getting in touch with MailOnline this week was 41-year-old Anna Plimmer who had a similar experience when flying with Ryanair from Barcelona to Manchester, and ended up having to pay €120 (£103) to check in at the desk.

She said the problems began when she booked a holiday with a travel company that creates a new email address for someone as a passenger for a flight.

However, she was unable to check-in online, saying this was because of cognitive issues she suffers due to epilepsy. Ms Plimmer instead decided to seek assistance from staff at the Ryanair check-in desk.

But she said: ‘Cue Ryanair and the horrific staff at Barcelona airport. We arrived in plenty of time – before the two-hour cut off. At arrival of the desk, I explained the situation and the Spanish staff member who promptly said, ‘give me one moment’ and left us standing there for 20 minutes.

‘Another staff member then said ‘can I help you’ to which I then explained the situation again. They offered no assistance to resolving the issue and continued talking to her surrounding colleagues in Spanish all of whom were Spanish – no British staff on the Ryanair desk.

Jude Preston, pictured with her husband Mike Preston, told MailOnline how she was charged £115 to change three letters on her flight booking with Ryanair earlier this year

Annie Railton, charged £90 for boarding passes at an airport, said: ‘Now if I’m going anywhere that is a package style break, I ask who am I flying with. If it’s Ryanair then I’m not going’

‘At this point now the original staff member came back and promptly said ‘there is nothing they can do, it is now past the two hour cut off and we have to pay.’

With Ms Plimmer fearing that she still had to get through security and with time running out, she added: ‘I accepted my fate, after much backwards and forwards with the staff and much heated debate between us, interjected by them laughing and talking in Spanish to each other.

What readers have been telling MailOnline about their experiences with Ryanair 

‘My son recently had to check in at Belfast on a Ryanair flight and was charged £55 as he forgot to check in online. Scandalous, his ticket was only £16.’

‘In March we visited Paris. I tried to check in but was unable as WiFi was poor. The instructions were also in French which I did not understand. No one at the airport were willing to help and I had to pay for three of us to get back home again. I complained to them when I got home but they ignored me. I will never use them again and will deter anyone else from booking with them.’

‘I tried to check in on the Ryanair app and on the website before my flight yesterday from Cork to London but the app and site kept crashing and reloading so I was unable to do so. Contacted Ryanair but only got through to the robot on the webchat which kept telling me to try again later. I then had to check in at the desk an hour before my flight and pay €55 check in fee.’

‘I had to pay the £110 Ryanair fee when flying to Krakov before Covid. I hadn’t fully completed the process although I had confirmation of our seats. We got to Bristol Airport really early and joined the queue for checking. We were told we were too early to check in. When we did check in we were told you havent completed the outward onboarding process and it was too late to go on line to change it.’

‘My 19-year-old daughter was unable to print her boarding passes at home due to an error on the website, on her first flight abroad. I told her ‘don’t worry, they should be able to do it at the check-in desk’. She got to the airport and the lady was really rude and charged her another £90 or something silly to print the pass there, even though there is no way we could’ve printed it here as there was an error coming up each time. It was definitely their fault. Panicking, my daughter also phoned me to ask me to speak to the lady to explain that we tried at home, and the lady wasn’t interested. I think it’s disgusting.’

‘I’m sad to say that my family have also endured a fee of £60 per person on our way to Lanzarote which just happened to be my mother’s first holiday in ten years. It started when my mum didn’t understand about the workings of the Ryanair app so was advised by them to come the airport early so they could help her. Unfortunately, they didn’t help and told her she was not in time so charged her £60 per person, there was four of us. It was truly hounding. ‘

‘We hadn’t checked in but arrived 3.5 hours before flight departure. Told to wait until two hours before flight to come back and check in. Back to queue 2.5 hours before departure. I didn’t know about the check in policy but three staff stood there didn’t mention this. Got to counter and was informed of the policy and £55 per person fee – £275 for my family. I had ten minutes before the two-hour deadline. The system was down and wouldn’t let me check in. The girl on counter also tried to check us in on her phone and couldn’t and said ‘the system was down so pay the check in fee and apply for refund which you’ll get because this has happened to several people this morning’.’

‘I flew recently from Hamburg, Germany to London Stansted and I unfortunately hadn’t checked in online. It was about one hour and 55 minutes before take-off when I realised. This meant I was no longer able to check in via the app. Ironically though, I was able to pay the extortionate €60 fee via the app while I was standing in the long queue for check-in at the airport. Then the app says ‘please go to check-in counter to pick up boarding pass’! I felt very cheated even though I admit that I forgot about their ridiculous rule.’

‘They suggested I take my receipt over to the other counter to get a refund. This was clearly a ploy to get rid of us because after ten minutes waiting in a further queue the representative looked at me like I had three heads and simply said ‘I don’t know why they said to come over here, I can’t help you, it will have to be taken up with Ryanair’.’

Ms Plimmer, who lives in St Helens, Merseyside, continued: ‘I am a 41-year-old woman, hardly a dinosaur, so I feel for anyone who isn’t tech savvy having to navigate an increasingly online world.

‘If only a decent human being had been at the desk offering customers assistance when they are struggling, for whatever reason and that the system isn’t rigged to trip you at every conceivable opportunity.’

Andrew Minchin, 61, and his partner Delyth, 60, had to pay the £110 Ryanair fee to check-in at the airport when travelling from Bristol to Krakow before the pandemic.

Mr Minchin, from South Wales, told MailOnline: ‘I hadn’t fully completed the process although I had confirmation of our seats. We got to Bristol Airport really early and joined the queue for checking.

‘We were told we were too early to check in. When we did check in we were told you haven’t completed the outward onboarding process and it was too late to go online to change it. I was livid.

‘I did write and complain when I got back from holiday but Ryanair didn’t want to know.’

He added that he would never fly with Ryanair again and now always tries to book with a travel agent ‘who does all the printing for us’.

Mr Minchin also said that the couple went on their first cruise in June and praised Hays Travel in Carmarthen for doing ‘everything for us’, including airport parking, flights to Malta and the ship boarding passes.

Another Ryanair passenger, Karen Lindsay, visited Paris in March and tried to check-in online for a flight home but was unable because of poor WiFi signal.

She continued: ‘The instructions were also in French which I did not understand. No one at the airport was willing to help and I had to pay for three of us to get back home again.

‘I complained to them when I got home but they ignored me. I will never use them again and will deter anyone else from booking with them.’

One reader, who asked to be identified only as Adam, said: ‘I flew recently from Hamburg, Germany to London Stansted and I unfortunately hadn’t checked in online. It was about one hour and 55 minutes before take-off when I realised. This meant I was no longer able to check in via the app.

‘Ironically though, I was able to pay the extortionate €60 fee via the app while I was standing in the long queue for check-in at the airport. Then the app says ‘please go to check-in counter to pick up boarding pass’. I felt very cheated even though I admit that I forgot about their ridiculous rule.’

Other readers got in touch with MailOnline saying they had to pay the same amount as the Jaffe couple.

One said: ‘I had to fork out the same from Tenerife to Glasgow.’

Another added: ‘I had to pay £55 for Ryanair’s con of a boarding pass as I forgot to do it – it is a scam.’

A third said: ‘From Gran Canaria with my two sons, I had to pay for three tickets because I had no access to a printer.’

And a fourth said: ‘My 19-year-old daughter was unable to print her boarding passes at home due to an error on the website, on her first flight abroad.

‘I told her ‘don’t worry, they should be able to do it at the check-in desk’. She got to the airport and the lady was really rude and charged her another £90 or something silly to print the pass there, even though there is no way we could’ve printed it here as there was an error coming up each time.

‘It was definitely their fault. Panicking, my daughter also phoned me to ask me to speak to the lady to explain that we tried at home, and the lady wasn’t interested. I think it’s disgusting.’

A further reader said they tried to check in on the Ryanair app and website before their flight earlier this month from Cork to London, but the app and site kept crashing and reloading so they were unable to do so. 

They told MailOnline: ‘Contacted Ryanair but only got through to the robot on the webchat which kept telling me to try again later. I then had to check in at the desk an hour before my flight and pay €55 check in fee. ‘

A further Ryanair passenger told MailOnline: ‘It happened to me at Manchester Airport. They said I missed the deadline by 22 minutes and they said £55 please.’

One other reader said: ‘My son recently had to check in at Belfast on a Ryanair flight and was charged £55 as he forgot to check in online. Scandalous, his ticket was only £16.’ 

Karen Lindsay visited Paris in March and was unable to check-in because of a poor WiFi connection – but ‘No one at the airport was willing to help and I had to pay for three of us to get back home again’

MailOnline reader Andy Brook said he was told to throw away a photography umbrella at Arrecife ahead of a Ryanair flight, having been allowed to take it there from Stansted

And another told MailOnline: ‘I’m sad to say that my family have also endured a fee of £60 per person on our way to Lanzarote which just happened to be my mother’s first holiday in ten years. 

READ MORE Ryanair mocks couple who got engaged on flight saying bride-to-be should ‘blink twice for random seat allocation’ and suggests they should have paid a ‘proposal fee’

‘It started when my mum didn’t understand about the workings of the Ryanair app so was advised by them to come the airport early so they could help her. Unfortunately, they didn’t help and told her she was not in time so charged her £60 per person, there was four of us. It was truly hounding. ‘

One reader told MailOnline about what happened to him and his family of five at Bristol Airport when checking in for a Ryanair flight.

He said: ‘We hadn’t checked in but arrived 3.5 hours before flight departure. Told to wait until two hours before flight to come back and check in. Back to queue 2.5 hours before departure.

‘I didn’t know about the check in policy but three staff stood there didn’t mention this. Got to counter and was informed of the policy and £55 per person fee – £275 for my family. I had ten minutes before the two-hour deadline.

‘The system was down and wouldn’t let me check in. The girl on counter also tried to check us in on her phone and couldn’t and said ‘the system was down so pay the check in fee and apply for refund which you’ll get because this has happened to several people this morning’.’

Readers also got in touch about other high charges they have faced during check-in for Ryanair flights.

One told MailOnline: ‘Ryanair also charge either £32 or £36 to either put your hand luggage in the cabin or in the hold. I discovered this last month when I travelled from Malaga.

‘I was only allowed a handbag to take on board with my ‘hand luggage’ only accepted with the charge. My friend had to pay €55.99 for one case, one way. So the cheap flight turned out rather expensive.’

Les Mosco, pictured with his wife Babs, said: ‘They’re ripping off customers by these penalty charges, hidden in the small print’

Meanwhile Jude Preston from south Birmingham emailed MailOnline to reveal how she was charged £115 to change three letters on her flight booking with Ryanair earlier this year.

She said: ‘My husband made a common mistake of entering my name as Jude Preston as I am known to everyone, rather than the name on my passport Judith Preston – so literally three letters difference.

‘I tried to challenge this but they just quote the T’s and C’s back at you. It may be legal but that doesn’t make it OK .’

Annie Railton told MailOnline of her experiences with Ryanair when she was a leader in charge on a youth club trip to Hossegor in France for a surf camp, and travelled both ways by Brittany Ferries.

She said: ‘On the way back to get the ferry from Santander to the UK one young man was taken ill and had to be removed from the ferry to a hospital. I briefed my staff, gave them all of my money apart from a few euros and went with the young person to the hospital.

‘Brittany Ferries by the way were amazing, getting a local member of staff to meet us at the hospital, arranging a B&B and getting us there. I had phoned the office at home who, once we knew the young person could travel the next day, arranged flights back from Santander to Stanstead and sent me the details.

‘When, with the help of the hotel owner, the next day we turned up at Santander airport we had not been able to print of tickets, we were charged by a very snooty Ryanair operative very clearly telling us to pay up, at the time I recall it being £70 for the two of us.

One reader, who was happy to be pictured but asked to be identified only as Adam, said he flew from Hamburg to Stansted and hadn’t checked in online, but was ‘ironically’ able to pay the €60 fee via the app while standing in a long queue for check-in at the airport

‘I had a tiny amount of money and the young person and I ended up getting bits and pieces from the bank cards we had between us. By the way we got home from Stansted because my office arranged for a hire car from the airport.’

She added that this wasn’t her last experience of bad customer service with Ryanair.

Ms Railton continued: ‘I said at the time never again, then I booked a friend and myself onto a cheapo trip to Vienna for a pre-Christmas break. I had understood that if we turned up two hours before the flight I did not need to pay for the boarding passes.

‘Wrong, we got there early only to be told we were being charged £90 for the privilege. Best of it was the flight was late and we were led down onto the Tarmac for 45 minutes in the freezing cold until we could board our flight.

‘Maybe I should have charged them waiting time. Now if I’m going anywhere that is a package style break, I ask who am I flying with. If it’s Ryanair then I’m not going.’

Another MailOnline reader, Andy Brook, got in touch to explain his own experiences with Ryanair.

He said: ‘As an amateur photographer, I travelled to Lanzarote in July from Stansted with ‘Priority’ boarding plus a 10kg case, all of which I paid for of course. I also took an umbrella as a photo-prop.

‘It passed through Stansted security and no issues were raised at the gate. On my return through Arrecife, Swissport act as Ryanair’s ground agent. I checked in, passed through security and awaited my return flight, umbrella in hand.

Ruth Jaffe, 79, and her husband Peter Jaffe, 80, were flying from London Stansted to Bergerac

‘When I got to the gate to board, the Swissport agent told me that I could not take the umbrella and it would need to be thrown away. I asked if this was Spanish law, Canary Island bylaw or Ryanair and she refused to answer – only threatening police intervention.

‘I pressed again and again on whose rule was being applied and was told eventually that it was Ryanair. I asked where on Lanzarote I could buy such an umbrella and therefore I must have brought it with me to the island.

‘I then asked if security had no issue and if the flight’s captain would accept the umbrella, why should she not? There was no talk of payment – only throwing the almost brand new umbrella away.

‘I even offered to give the agent the umbrella rather than throwing it away but she refused it. I regularly travel to Lanzarote and always travel with Ryanair as ‘priority’ and regularly witness non-priority passengers especially being held to ransom into paying extra baggage fees, often for exactly the same luggage as the passengers went to Lanzarote with.

‘You cannot help but feel that Swissport are given a target of penalty fees they must levy but my own experience certainly suggest that Swissport officiously apply Ryanair’s policies where they are not so strongly applied in the UK and elsewhere and it’s this inconsistency that is so frustrating.’

And Les Mosco told of an experience he had with Ryanair that happened after he had to cancel due to a medical emergency.

He told MailOnline: ‘Whilst I acknowledge I’d bought nonflexible tickets, when I asked for a refund Ryanair refused, but others – I’d booked several hotels and car hire – waived that and refunded.

‘Worse, as part of the Ryanair process I had to pay a small amount – but it’s the principle – to get full online access. Worse again, my insurance company refunded the Ryanair tickets, less the excess and less the airport departure tax telling me as we hadn’t flown it was Ryanair who should refund the tax as they wouldn’t have to pay it to the Government.

‘When I asked for that refund Ryanair told me, a, I should have claimed it within a month of not flying – but hadn’t told me anything when I’d tried to cancel – and, b, there was a £17 admin fee, unclear whether per person but as ADT is only £13 per person, I gave up and vowed to never book with them again.

‘They’re ripping off customers by these penalty charges, hidden in the small print. ‘

Earlier this week, MailOnline also spoke to Ryanair passengers Nicholas and Francesca Endean, from Southampton, who were told to pay €60 (£52) by check-in staff at Ibiza Airport to print out boarding passes – or miss their flight back to Bristol Airport.

The demand for the cash ruined what had been a relaxing five-day break on the Spanish island.

Ryanair has said passengers who book their flights agree to the terms and conditions 

Ryanair has said passengers who book their flights agree to the terms and conditions.

The airline’s rules state that if passengers do not check in online up to two hours before a scheduled departure time, they may check in at the airport up to 40 minutes before departure, but they will be charged the airport check-in fee.

The problems mirror that of the Jaffes who were charged £110 at Stansted Airport on August 11 after mistakenly printing out the wrong boarding pass.

Ruth and Peter Jaffe had arrived at the airport with their return boarding passes instead of those for the outward flight. Staff made them pay to print the correct boarding passes.

The Jaffes’ story, revealed by their daughter on social media, resulted in an outpouring of fury from other passengers who have fallen victim to similar charges – with the budget airline hitting back by insisting they were correctly charged.

In response to the Jaffe story, a Ryanair spokesman said: ‘ As per Ryanair’s T&C’s, which these passengers agreed to at the time of booking, these passengers failed to check-in online for their outbound flight from Stansted Airport (August 11) despite receiving an email reminder (August 10) to check in online. These passengers were correctly charged the airport check-in fee (£55 per passenger).

‘All passengers travelling with Ryanair agree to check-in online before arriving at their departure airport and all passengers are sent an email/SMS, reminding them to do so 24 hours before departure. We regret that these passengers ignore their email reminder and failed to check in online.’

Meanwhile a study by NetVoucherCodes revealed that Ryanair has the biggest ‘hidden fees’ of any airline in Europe when compared to the original average fare, at 344 per cent.

It said the airline charges £63.28 in ‘hidden fees’ on top of the £18.39 average base fare. The fees include those for a 20kg check-in bag, carry-on baggage, fast track, seat selection and insurance.

Ryanair customers at London Stansted Airport, which is the airline’s main base (file picture)

However, the data should be put in the context of Ryanair’s very cheap base airfare which make the add-ons appear higher when considered as a proportion.

The study said ‘hidden fees’ are becoming increasingly more common with 89 per cent of all airlines charging at least one ‘hidden fee’, rising to 97 per cent for European airlines.

It also found that the average ‘hidden cost’ of European airlines is £45.43, which increases in the US to £61.20 – but decreases for international airlines to £26.09.

Wizz Air came in second place, charging 272 per cent of the original airfare in ‘hidden fees’ – with an average base airfare of £34.29 but ‘hidden costs’ of £93.56.

In third was easyJet at 170 per cent – with a base airfare of £36.99 and ‘hidden costs’ of £62.84.

Rebecca Bebbington, a money travel expert at NetVoucherCodes, said: ‘To avoid baggage fees, try fitting all your belongings into a carry-on bag. These tend to be free with budget airlines but be sure to pack strategically to avoid overweight baggage fees.’

It follows Prime Minister Rishi Sunak hinting in June that he would stop firms such as airlines adding unavoidable extra charges at online checkouts in a crackdown on ‘junk fees’ and ‘drip pricing’.

MailOnline contacted Ryanair for comment both on the case studies sent in by readers, and the NetVoucherCodes study. 

And a Ryanair spokeswoman told MailOnline: ‘Ryanair is Europe’s No.1 airline for low fares, reliability and customer service, carrying over 18.7million passengers in July, more than any other European airline. 

‘Ryanair has no ‘hidden extras’ and passengers agree to Ryanair’s T&C’s at the time of booking. 

‘With a customer satisfaction rating of over 85 per cent, should any of our more than 500,000 daily customers require assistance, they can contact our dedicated Customer Service Team by phone, email or visit our online Help Centre at Ryanair.com.’ 

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