That’ll be an extra €8.99 for priority boarding and a cabin bag. Okay, Aer Lingus…

How the tables have turned! Aer Lingus announced they were charging a fee for cheapskates like me to bring a cabin bag on board their flights. I finished that article by writing, “this news has zero impact on me, because I always buy priority boarding when flying Aer Lingus.”

When writing that, I had made an assumption, and that turns out to be incorrect. It seems the new policy does hit me where it hurts, right in the wallet!

The Extra Fee for Priority Boarding

Regular readers know I have favourite seats when flying, and Aer Lingus is no exception. I invariably choose window seats on the Irish airline in row 3, and if they’re taken, which is not often, window seats in row 6.

These are in a zone at the front of the cabin called preferred seats and you pay more for them. As you can see below, these are the most expensive in the cabin at €16.99 a pop.

Before the new policy came in, this €16.99 was for the seat AND it came with priority boarding. This is what I was referring to, in that I always bought the seat, hence I always had priority boarding. I assumed this would be the same. How naive can I be sometimes?

Turns out that priority boarding, which allows you to bring a cabin bag, is an extra €8.99 on top. That makes the seating fee far less value than it was before, which is kinda annoying.

Overall Thoughts

You know, I missed a time when your airline ticket just included everything. The price quoted when you searched for the ticket was the price and that was that. All the creeping additional charges as you progress towards paying for an online booking is just irritating. I always end up spending more than I planned.

I’ll be curious to see how many people pay the new fee and how many are just happy to have their cabin bag in the hold. I’ll be taking it on a case by case basis, essentially depending on how important the contents of my bag are. If I have a laptop in it, the fee will be paid, but if it’s just clothes, I’ll avoid it.

Are you planning to pay to take a cabin bag on Aer Lingus (if you’re one who has to pay – there are plenty of people who get to avoid it altogether)? Thank you for reading and if you have any comments or questions, please leave them below.

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Featured image by Aer Lingus.