How the planner finds it
- Every leg's operating carriers are matched against a fee table: Ryanair $35–$60, Wizz $40–$75, easyJet $30–$55, Vueling $30–$50, Norwegian $35–$55, Spirit and Frontier $40–$65, Icelandair, Norse, PLAY and French Bee $45–$70, and European legacy carriers' light fares at roughly $25–$55.
- Bands are per bag, per person, one direction, booked online in advance — the cheapest way to buy one, and still the honest number.
- One fee per ticket, not per segment, because a bag is checked through on a single booking. A leg with two segments on one ticket is charged once.
- Southwest sits in the table at zero, because two bags are still free.
- The per-leg bands are summed into a single trip-level range printed beside the headline fare, so you never see a total that quietly assumes you travel with a backpack.
Worked example
Bags on the example plan: six cities, seven legs
from the example plan- Flights, per person
- $1,214
- One checked bag, every leg
- +$130 to +$230 per person
- As a share of the fare
- 11% to 19%
- If you travel carry-on only
- $0
This is the number that decides whether a $19 Ryanair leg or a $70 legacy leg is actually cheaper. On some itineraries the bag costs more than the flight.
When it does not work
- These are estimates from a static table, not quotes. Airlines re-price bags by route, season and how close to departure you buy.
- Bags bought at the airport routinely cost two to three times the online price. The table uses the online price.
- Fees are per direction; a return with a bag is two fees.
- Carriers outside the table contribute nothing to the total, so the real figure can be higher than the range shown.
- Cabin-bag rules vary just as much and are not modelled at all. On some carriers even the overhead bag is paid.
Risk
No risk
One booking, normal rules. Nothing here can be taken away from you.