New comparison tool covers 20 airlines and shows in seconds what you will really pay for cabin bags, hold luggage, seat selection and sitting together as a family.

Holiday Extras has launched Bag Check, a free online tool that lets travellers see at a glance exactly what any of the UK’s 20 most popular airlines will charge them for luggage and seat selection before they book.

The tool covers everything from the UK’s biggest budget carriers, including Ryanair, easyJet and Wizz Air, through to long-haul operators including Emirates, Qatar Airways, American Airlines and Delta. For each airline, Bag Check shows clearly what is free, what has a fixed fee, and what will cost extra at the gate.

The tool covers three of the most common sources of unexpected post-booking costs: cabin bag allowances and fees, hold luggage charges, and seat selection costs, including whether families will be charged to sit together.

The scale of the problem is significant. Previous analysis of 18 European budget airlines found that passengers who want to take a hold bag pay, on average, an extra £37 on top of their ticket price, while the majority of airlines now charge an average of £28 for a cabin bag. At the extreme end, taking all available add-ons with Ryanair can add £152.99 to a one-way fare, while Vueling can add £163.36.

The fees are a central pillar of how budget airlines make money. According to their own published financial results, ancillary charges now account for over 44% of Wizz Air’s total revenue and around 34% of Ryanair’s total revenue of €13.95bn in FY2025.

EasyJet reported ancillary revenue of £24.45 per seat in its most recent full-year results. Note: these figures cover all ancillary income, including onboard retail, not exclusively bag and seat fees.

Allie Ralph, Senior Content Creator at Holiday Extras and designer of the Bag Check tool, said: “Booking a flight used to mean knowing what you were paying. These days the headline fare is just the opening offer, and the real cost only becomes clear once you start adding the things most people think of as basic. A carry-on bag. A seat next to your kids. A suitcase for a week away. The airlines are transparent about the fact that extras are a core part of their business model, and there is nothing wrong with that. But travellers deserve an equally clear view of what they are signing up for before they book. That is what Bag Check gives them.”

Bag Check uses official airline data, last checked 22 June 2026, and will be updated regularly as airlines change their fee structures.

The tool is free to use and requires no registration. It is available now at holidayextras.com/bag-check.html.