No free lunches on no frills airlines

Food and drinks on low cost airlines can cost almost half as much as the flight according to a new report.

Which? Holiday surveyed a number of budget airlines to find out the relative cost of in-flight drinks and snacks. The subscription-only holiday magazine examined the cost of a basket of five items: a sandwich with meat filling, mini size Pringles, small bottle of red wine, sparkling water and cup of coffee.

The most expensive airline for this range of food and drinks turned out to be Irish no frills airline Ryanair. It charged £16.05 for the five items on flights from London Stansted to Barcelon Girona departing on November 14th and returning on November 16th this year.

Ryanair was found to be the most expensive airline for all five items. Its in-flight sandwiches are priced at £4.20, mini Pringles £1.85, bottle of red wine £5, sparkling water £2.50, and cup of coffee £2.50.

Next most expensive budget airline was found to be Flybe, but it charged considerably less than Ryanair for the five items. Flybe’s total price for all five items was £11.95. But Flybe did charge the least for mini Pringles, just £1.10.

Overall cheapest low cost airline for the basket of five items was bmibaby, which charged a total of £10.50. It was cheapest for a bottle of sparkling water, just 80p, and equal cheapest for a sandwich, bottle of red wine and cup of coffee.

“It’s hard to believe that some airlines charge so much for food and drink, especially when the cost of their flights are often so low,” comments editor of Which? Holiday, Lorna Cowan, about the findings of the survey.

“If you think you will want something to eat on a flight, buy it before you board from the departure lounge. Although you can’t take more than 100ml of liquids in your hand luggage, anything you buy in the departure lounge can be taken on your flight, and is normally cheaper than on the plane,” Cowan advises.

Other low cost airlines included in the Which? Holiday survey on in-flight food and drinks were easyJet and Monarch. Monarch was second cheapest overall, charging £10.60 for the five items. easyJet was in the middle of the airlines surveyed, charging a total of £11.50.

Written by: Nick Purdom

Source: www.holidayextras.co.uk