Haramees

For some reason, transparent pricing policies have yet to grace airline websites.

The flight I booked today from Newquay to Edinburgh was billed at £49.95. Added to the reasonably cheap price of the ticket was the obligatory taxes and charges amounting to £25.70. The website then helpfully defaulted to the option to allow me to choose which seat I wanted to sit in. The cost? £6.00. Want to take a bag onboard? Yes I do, funnily enough. £7.99 please. Want to pay with a credit card? Sorry, I've got no cheques on me and I can't send cash through a website. £3.00. In addition to all this nonsense, Newquay airport charges a £5.00 development fee (which is has done for the last three years so the surprise isn't the charge, more the fact that they can't seem to finish whatever it is they're developing).

So, £49.95 becomes £97.64, almost double the price that so temptingly jumps around the screen in bright colourful lettering. I doubt Tesco would get away with the same approach to pricing.

All this is relatively cheap however compared to what they do to you if you are a little over the 20kg limit. If I were to exceed my limit by just 3 kilos (quite likely seeing as I'll be in Edinburgh for five weeks), I'd be charged an extra £30. I understand that more weight = more fuel = more expense and, having been warned in advance, will try my best to stick within the limit. What annoys me is that the same penalty isn't applied to those carrying excess weight around their person, or to put in bluntly, fat people. Why should I struggle to pack everything into one bag (the 20kg limit applies to ALL luggage; I can't even take my Crumpler on as hand-luggage) to satisfy their limit when someone who is quite clearly going to have difficulty squeezing into their seat (and probably sat right next to me too) isn't asked to cough up a single penny for the extra fuel their extra weight requires.

It is likely the airlines have considered this issue but it is obviously deemed far too sensitive to ask someone who is overweight to pay their fair share. Perhaps I can use this loophole to my advantage by wearing as many of my clothes as possible to reduce to load in my suitcase and then claim mortal offense if questioned about my size.