European Union proposals to allow all airline passengers to take two pieces of cabin baggage are “unworkable and mad”, according to the chief executive of easyJet.
The European Parliament have voted in favour of the plan, saying increasing the amount of cabin baggage “would enhance transparency and consumer protection for all air travellers”.
But Kenton Jarvis, CEO of Britain’s biggest budget airline, told The Independent: “It’s a bizarre initiative from someone who clearly doesn’t fly very much – because there isn’t room for two bags in the aircraft.
“It’s unworkable and mad.”
After easyJet started charging for cabin baggage in 2008, for a few years the airline allowed a small backpack and a trolley bag without charge.
Mr Jarvis said of that era: “The biggest single cause of disruption for the customer when two bags were offered by easyJet was taking bags off people at the gate, which is never pleasant.
“We saw a 95 per cent drop from that when we introduced charging for large cabin bags.”
On a typical flight from Gatwick to Malaga, the charge for a large piece of hand luggage is £27.
Since the European proposals emerged, the airlines’ trade association Airlines for Europe has established a minimum size for the single free piece of cabin baggage, leading Ryanair to increase its allowance by 20 per cent.
But Mr Jarvis said: “We have one of the largest free cabin bag allowances at easyJet. It’s 45 by 36 by 20 [cm], and because of that, up to 40 per cent of our customers travel with that free allowance. They do not choose to allocate their seating, and therefore are happy to fly on the original advertised fare.”
“If you force a second bag into the cabin, you remove choice. You’ll essentially put the price up. And it’s completely unworkable because there isn’t enough room.”
Ryanair and Wizz Air have smaller limits for their free cabin bag, with a maximum volume of 24 litres; easyJet’s is one-third larger, at 32 litres.
Both British Airways and Jet2 allow two free pieces of hand luggage, including a large roll-along bag with a volume of
Cabin baggage: How confusing are the current rules, and what is changing (or not)?
