One of the leading low-cost airlines Ryan Air recently announced that they will be cutting baggage fees for a large portion of their flights by up to 92%. The headline sounds great, especially as one of the biggest annoyances for flyers is the extra charges they incur for baggage, however, Send My Bag have carried out research that suggests they are pulling the wool over our eyes.

From the research carried it appears the savings you could make will depend on when and where you fly. For example, if you’re travelling off peak with 20kg of luggage you’ll actually see an increase of 40% and an even bigger increase of 67% for those travelling off peak with just 15kg of luggage according to Send My Bag.

If we look at an example flight from 2015 from the UK & Ireland to one of Europe’s favourite destinations, Ryanair charged £15 for a 15kg bag off peak and £25 if flying during peak.

With Ryanair’s new rules for baggage, customers will actually be paying £25 no matter when they travel.

If you’re a domestic flyer then you also won’t be happy to hear that any savings that are to be had won’t apply to you.

So why are they reluctant to bring us real savings? It may well be to do with Ryanair making 24.6% of its total revenue in 2014 from baggage fees alone so it wouldn’t make sense for them to make such huge cuts in this area as it would mean they could potentially lose a large chunk of revenue.

The revenue airlines make from baggage fees is already taking a hit from people utilising cabin baggage they can take on board the plane at no extra cost. Many people are buying bags that are designed to fit exactly within the maximum size people can take on board which is on average around 55cm x 40cm x 25cm, although each airline is different so be sure to check before flying.

Another option people are using to take bags away with them is sending their luggage separately, you might think it would be more expensive but its well worth checking beforehand as you could save more than you think using this method.

So take note, anytime you read that a company is stating they will be saving you money, take it with a pinch of salt and do your own research rather than taking their word for it.