Checked baggage may face green tax

The UK’s biggest travel group is looking into adding fees for checked baggage on its holiday charter for environmental reasons.

TUI Travel, the owner of First Choice and Thomson Holidays, sells eight million of the 19 million package holidays purchased by UK travellers each year. The group says that the new measures it’s considering would penalise passengers who travel with large, heavy bags and if introduced would likely reduce the overall aircraft weight on its flights and also lower their carbon footprint.

TUI estimates that around one-third of luggage taken on holiday by its passengers is “unnecessary.” It believes that the cost of a holiday for those who pack more lightly could be reduced, from the extra revenue generated by the fees charged for heavier bags. The company current imposes limits of 15-25kgs per passenger for checked luggage, depending on the route and length of the flight.

A TUI spokesman noted: “We’ve talked about having lower luggage allowances, but we want to do it for the right reasons - environmental reasons, not as an extra revenue stream.”

“We’ve got to get people to think about what they pack. In our experience a third of what’s in most suitcases could be left at home. If we reduce the allowance, it’s a carrot rather than a stick approach: ‘You bring less luggage and we’ll charge you less.’”

He also said that one of the routes having the heaviest luggage weight is the Maldives, “where you don’t need much more than a bikini.”

www.tui-group.com