Sara Kay, 25, is demanding EasyJet refund the £50 fine for her ‘oversized’ bag and called the budget airline greedy for trying to ‘squeeze more money’ out of her
A passenger was so ticked-off after being hit with a £50 ‘oversized bag’ fee by EasyJet she proved that it fit ‘perfectly’ – so now wants her money back.
Sara Kay was boarding a flight from London Gatwick to Split, Croatia, on 2 July when the airline’s staff asked her to place her backpack into their baggage sizer. The 25-year-old admitted her bag would not fit perfectly in the sizer and so she was charged around £50. Once onboard the aircraft, she claims her bag fitted perfectly underneath the seat in front of her and said there was even ‘tons of room’.
She shamed the airline on social media before demanding they ‘give her her money back’. EasyJet claimed that they only call it an ‘under seat bag’ to be clear about where it needs to be stored and customers are informed of the dimensions when booking. It comes after Ryanair passengers band together as staff charge woman £75 luggage fee.
READ MORE: Man, 30, put shoulder pain down to gym aches, then doctors asked where he’d like to dieREAD MORE: Doctor’s warning to people who drink even a ‘single cup of tea’
However media production worker Sara called the budget airline ‘greedy’ and said it was simply a method to ‘squeeze more money out of you’. Sara said: “It’s super annoying and it’s pretty greedy in my opinion. It’s a budget airline so they love to nickel and dime you for any cents that they can to try and squeeze more money out of you.
“They have a really rigid thing for you to fit your bag into and then the seat obviously has incredibly much more room than that. The space under the seat is not a perfect square. Nobody has a backpack that is a perfect square or rectangle or whatever it is. The baggage sizer is meant to be the same size as the seat but it’s definitely too small.
“Even on my international flight it didn’t fit as well as it did on this. It slid right in perfectly, there was tons of room. It was all comical how great of a fit it was. I was like, ‘it’s literally perfect so what are we talking about?'” Sara, who is from New York City, New York, US, but is backpacking around Europe, said she was trying to stay on a budget for the trip and the flight already cost £138.
She said if she is charged for her backpack again on already booked upcoming flights then she likely will not fly with EasyJet again. Sara said: “It’s so annoying. You’re already budgeting for a trip and they’re going to charge you an extra $60 dollars. I definitely don’t have an unlimited wallet these days, I don’t think most people do.
“I’m always trying to save while I can. It’s definitely annoying. I’m flying back to Croatia with them to Paris and I am interested to see if this will happen again. If it does, I probably won’t fly with them again.” Taking to X to complain about the situation, Sara said: “How interesting, the bag that @easyJet just charged me $66.20 for because it ‘wouldn’t fit under the seat’ is, miraculously, & as expected, fitting perfectly under the seat! with room to spare!” She added: “Hey guys @easyJet give me my money back.”
EasyJet responded on the platform and said: “Hi Sara, I am sorry to read of the experience you’ve had with us recently. We want to reassure you that we are committed to treating everyone equally. To ensure that the flight departs promptly and safely, our Ground Crew conduct a number of checks before departure, including a check that customers have the correct sized bag. The staff at the airport have a limited time before departure to do so.
“The airport staff does have a limited period of time to check documentation, baggage, and assist boarding prior to departing. We try to make this as seamless as possible, but the relevant checks have to be done at the airport. This is why we ask our passengers to ensure that their cabin baggage (among other things) is in line with their baggage allowance as well as the dimensions thereof, in an effort to be proactive in the check-in and boarding process at the airport.
“The airport staff have to ensure that passengers have baggage that is in line with their baggage allowance. All passengers have to go through this process. If a bag is over any one of the maximum dimensions or weight, even if it is by a single centimetre, the relevant baggage fees are applicable and chargeable at the airport. Thanks, Jay.”
EasyJet explained they have ‘uniform bag dimensions for clarity and consistency’ for customers and these dimensions are designed to ensure it fits comfortably under the seat in front on all of the different aircraft they operate. They claimed they call it an ‘under seat bag’ to be clear to customers this is where it needs to be stored on board during the flight and the dimensions of this bag are separate.
They pointed out that this has been the same for years and is ‘well understood by the millions of customers who fly with them every year’ and that they remind customers when they travel.
An EasyJet spokesperson said: “Our free cabin bag allowance is one of the most generous in the industry and is designed to ensure this bag can fit comfortably under the seat onboard all our aircraft types.
“It is well understood by our customers as we clearly inform them of these dimensions when booking and remind them of this via email before they travel as well as clearly displaying this on boarding passes.”