{"id":728763,"date":"2026-01-29T14:44:17","date_gmt":"2026-01-29T14:44:17","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/728763\/"},"modified":"2026-01-29T14:44:17","modified_gmt":"2026-01-29T14:44:17","slug":"eu-proposals-for-free-extra-cabin-bags-on-planes-lunatic-idea-says-easyjet-easyjet","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/728763\/","title":{"rendered":"EU proposals for free extra cabin bags on planes \u2018lunatic idea\u2019, says easyJet | easyJet"},"content":{"rendered":"

EasyJet said proposals to enforce free additional cabin bags on planes across Europe<\/a> are a \u201clunatic idea\u201d, warning of fare rises and flight delays if legislation goes through.<\/p>\n

The European parliament last week voted overwhelmingly<\/a> to give all passengers the right to carry on a small case, as well as the free underseat bags currently permitted.<\/p>\n

Kenton Jarvis, easyJet\u2019s chief executive, said giving all passengers the right to extra free carry-on baggage would be \u201ccrazy European legislation\u201d and \u201cterrible for the consumer\u201d.<\/p>\n

As part of a bill to strengthen rights for passengers, MEPs have swung behind proposals<\/a> to allow passengers to take one \u201cpersonal item\u201d, such as a handbag, backpack or laptop, as well as a piece of hand luggage weighing up to 7kg (15lbs) and with combined dimensions of 100cm (39in).<\/p>\n

The case alone would be bigger than the current maximum permitted free cabin item<\/a> on Ryanair and others.<\/p>\n

The changes, which need ratifying by the European Council before becoming law, would apply to all passengers travelling to or from an EU airport using an EU-based airline \u2013 directly affecting the vast majority of short-haul flights from the UK.<\/p>\n

Jarvis said any new rules would probably be applied consistently across all its fleet, regardless of jurisdiction.<\/p>\n

The easyJet boss said it was \u201cpoliticians completely not understanding their subject and getting involved with things they shouldn\u2019t\u201d, adding: \u201cThere just isn\u2019t the space in the cabin, so that\u2019s another lunatic idea. We would go back to the days of having to offload cabin bags and put them in the hold \u2013 it was one of the number one causes of delayed boarding in the old days.\u201d<\/p>\n

Bag charges made up a large proportion of more than \u00a32.5bn in easyJet\u2019s annual income from extras, or ancillary revenue, \u201cand that would have to be passed on\u201d in fare rises for all passengers, he said.<\/p>\n

\u201cI just can\u2019t explain how stupid it would be, just crazy European legislation,\u201d Jarvis added.<\/p>\n

While on some easyJet flights, the advertised fare can cost less for a passenger than the price of bringing on luggage, Jarvis argued the total cost represented \u201cincredible value\u201d.<\/p>\n

The airline was rapped this week by the advertising watchdog for claiming the cost for bringing luggage was as little as \u00a35.99. The Advertising Standards Authority said easyJet had not provided evidence that such prices were widely available. Jarvis called the ruling \u201cirritating\u201d but said easyJet had now amended the wording on its website.<\/p>\n

Meanwhile, he said easyJet was talking to Starlink with a view to eventually offering wifi on its planes, but had concluded, like Ryanair, that \u201cthe economics of the deal don\u2019t work \u2026 When the time\u2019s right, we\u2019ll look to add that service, but it\u2019s not today\u201d.<\/p>\n

A recent public spat<\/a> between Ryanair\u2019s chief executive, Michael O\u2019Leary, and Starlink\u2019s owner, Elon Musk, over the worth of its wifi saw both calling the other an \u201cidiot\u201d.<\/p>\n

While Musk\u2019s political activities in the US have been followed by a drop in Tesla sales<\/a> in Europe, Jarvis said he would not shy away from the brand association: \u201cIt will be difficult to deliberately buy an inferior product for your customers because you have opinions on the CEO.<\/p>\n

\u201cEqually, if you weren\u2019t buying [Starlink], you\u2019d probably be buying the other one from Jeff Bezos. It\u2019s always going to be one of the guys when it comes to satellites.\u201d<\/p>\n

The comments came as the airline announced increased losses for the last quarter, a pre-tax loss of \u00a393m, up 50% from the same period the previous year, despite a 7% rise in passenger numbers for the period.<\/p>\n

Jarvis said the losses were partly due to investment in bases at Milan Linate airport and Rome Fiumicino airport, where the airline has to initially run unprofitable routes under a regulatory agreement.<\/p>\n

He said January bookings for the year ahead were at record levels, with the airline\u2019s passengers travelling further afield to destinations including Morocco, Tunisia, Cape Verde and Georgia.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"EasyJet said proposals to enforce free additional cabin bags on planes across Europe are a \u201clunatic idea\u201d, warning…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":728764,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5174],"tags":[2000,299,5187],"class_list":{"0":"post-728763","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-eu","8":"tag-eu","9":"tag-europe","10":"tag-european"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@uk\/115978925697437363","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/728763","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=728763"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/728763\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/728764"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=728763"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=728763"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=728763"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}