Flying can be expensive, especially if you’re paying for the whole family or confined to summer holiday dates. A budget airline can offer a good solution to expensive alternatives: crack-of-dawn flights and functional but zero-thrill carriers often mean prices are more affordable.
However, any extras – from luggage to food and drink – can be expensive. Here are the things you should consider before flying with a budget airline…
1. Luggage
Due to the low price, in most cases your allowance will only include hand luggage, with each carrier having different size dimensions for bags allowed in the cabin.
However, if you need to put luggage in the hold – or even bigger/heavier cabin luggage – extras can add up. For example, with FlySafair, a 20kg check-in bag costs R155 per bag per flight, and every additional bag per person costs R250.
2. Seating
Choosing your seat on a budget airline can cost you, too. For a fee, you can choose extra leg-room, over-wing seats or the option to avoid the middle seat. With most South African flights you can choose your seat 24 hours before you fly for free, when online check-in opens. But if you reserve your seat before this, you will pay a fee.
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3. Children
Children under the age of two are classed as infants when flying and don’t pay for a seat. However, many budget airlines will charge you a fee to travel with an infant to cover their costs. As usual, fares vary depending on the airline. With FlySafair and Kulula, babies between 7 days and 2-years-old pay 15% of the adult fare, even though they will be sitting on your lap. With Mango babies pay a fixed faee of R130 plus 15% vat.
4. Food and Drink
Most budget carriers charge extra for food and drink on-board. Research from travel portal fromAtoB.com found soft drinks are particularly expensive. You can pay upto R20 for a small can of cold drink and R20 if that can is an Appletizer or Grapetizer. Meanwhile, a sandwich can set you back between R40 and R50!
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