I very rarely use the expression 'rip-off' because you go into a transaction with your eyes open and agree to pay the price for the goods.  However, I'm going to say that air fares are increasingly rip-off because of the hidden charges that are not declared up-front or are hidden inside dense woffle.

A couple of years ago we flew to Poland on Lot.  It was very unclear that checked-in baggage had to paid for, it's a state airline and we went to the airport hopeful that our one bag each would be ok.  It turned out not to be so, and we had to join another interminable queue to pay for baggage and then re-join the queue for check-in.  By that time, we barely made security and gate checks to make our flight.  It wasn't a great start to our holiday.  I complained to them and received, after a long period, a boilerplate response.  They just didn't care.

Now I am planning a birthday trip for Ruth, booked via Expedia, and we are flying Jet2 from the cattle market Stansted.  What appears to be a reasonable air fare is now bumped up with seat reservations at £12 each per direction so that you can have the 'luxury' of flying together, one check-in baggage at £28 each per trip (because Ruth could never pack for 10kg target weight), so that's another £56, and finally the one that made me see red, an online check-in fee of £8.  At this point, I phoned them and asked what it was for.  They said it was for checking-in the baggage.  I asked "isn't that what the £28 is for" and they said no, that's for carrying the baggage on the plane.  So I said "this is all a complete rip-off with these hidden costs, running up a total flight cost that is way higher than the advertised price" and she said "well, I'm sorry you used that expression" to which I replied "what else can I call it"?

Am I wrong or should this come under the same law as for the retail industry: the price you pay should be the total price for everything required to get you and your baggage to a destination whilst sat together?