Lufthansa, Eurowings, and Ryanair Within Germany: Total Cost With Bags
Your phone shows a Berlin to Munich flight that looks cheaper than a sandwich at the airport. Then you add a suitcase, pick a seat, and pay for the train to the airport, and the “bargain” ends up costing more than the ICE. This guide shows you how to work out the real total cost of Lufthansa, Eurowings, and Ryanair flights within Germany once bags are included, and how to compare them properly against rail and bus.
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Why the Headline Fare Misleads You on Domestic German Flights
I learned this one the hard way. In my first year in Germany I booked what I thought was a cheap hop from Cologne to Berlin for a friend’s birthday weekend. I had a carry-on roller and a small backpack. The airline’s search page showed a price that made the train look like a luxury purchase. By the time I’d paid for the roller, the airport transfers, and an overpriced pretzel at the gate, I’d spent more than a flexible train ticket would have cost. The trip also took longer door to door than the train would have.
If that has happened to you, the problem wasn’t your maths. Domestic airfares in Germany are built to look small at the first click and then grow.
The Base Fare Is Only the Opening Price
Every carrier on German domestic routes now sells a stripped-down fare and then charges for the things most people assume are included:
- A carry-on bag that goes in the overhead bin.
- A checked suitcase.
- A chosen seat, which matters if you’re travelling with kids.
- The ability to change your plans.
The airline isn’t hiding anything illegal. Each fee is disclosed somewhere in the booking flow. The trouble is that the search results page, the one you screenshot and send to your partner, usually shows the lowest fare with none of those extras.
Here is a common example. You search Hamburg to Munich for a Friday afternoon. Three options appear, with prices that look close together. The cheapest might allow nothing more than a bag that fits under the seat in front of you. The middle one might include an overhead bag. The most expensive might include a checked suitcase and free changes. If you’re packing for a long weekend with hiking boots, the cheapest fare is not your real fare. Your real fare is the cheapest one plus whatever it costs to add the bag you actually need.
The fix is a mindset change. Stop comparing ticket prices and start comparing trip prices. A trip price includes:
- The fare that fits your luggage.
- Seat costs, if seats matter to you.
- Getting to and from both airports.
- The value of your time.
That last item sounds abstract until you’ve spent ninety minutes at BER security on a Monday morning.
How Domestic Flying in Germany Has Changed
Germany has a dense high-speed rail network, and that shapes domestic aviation more than many newcomers realise. On many city pairs, Deutsche Bahn’s ICE trains run city centre to city centre, so you skip airport transfers entirely. Domestic flight schedules have also thinned out on several routes over the years. Airlines have shifted their focus toward international connections, and some domestic links have moved to rail-air partnerships.
Domestic flights also carry an aviation tax and airport charges that the airline builds into the fare. These are part of the reason a domestic ticket can feel oddly expensive for such a short distance, and part of why carriers push unbundled fares so hard.
All of this leaves you with a fragmented picture. Lufthansa concentrates on its hubs in Frankfurt and Munich. Eurowings runs point-to-point flying from airports such as Düsseldorf, Cologne/Bonn, Hamburg, and Stuttgart. Ryanair’s domestic German network has historically been thin and changes from season to season. Before you agonise over bag fees, check whether the route you want is actually flown, how often, and from which airport. I’d also suggest reading Hahn, Weeze, and Memmingen: Budget Airports That Aren’t Where They Claim before you get excited about a fare into an airport with a city’s name attached to it.
Lufthansa Fare Families and the New Economy Basic
Lufthansa is the carrier most expats meet first, often through a corporate travel booking or a connection through Frankfurt. Its fare structure used to be fairly easy to follow. That changed in 2026.
Economy Basic: Personal Item Only
The Lufthansa Group has added a new Economy Basic fare for travel from 19 May 2026. It is being rolled out gradually on select routes. With Economy Basic you get one personal item only, meaning a small bag that fits under the seat. A carry-on for the overhead bin and any checked bags are paid add-ons.
Because the rollout is gradual, you can’t assume every domestic route shows the new fare. On one search you might see Economy Basic at the top of the list. On another route the lowest option might still be the older Light fare. Always open the fare details and read exactly what is included before you pay.
Economy Basic is genuinely good for one kind of traveller. Think of a consultant flying Frankfurt to Berlin for a single day of meetings, carrying a laptop bag and nothing else. For that person the personal-item allowance is enough and the lower fare is real savings. For almost everyone else, the add-ons quickly close the gap with the next fare up. Picture someone flying to a wedding with a suit carrier, or a student going home for the holidays with a full suitcase. Add-on prices vary by route and booking channel, so check Lufthansa’s own fare and baggage pages for the figures that apply to your trip.
Light, Classic, and Flex
Above Basic sit the familiar fare families. They step up in what’s included: bag allowance, seat selection, and flexibility. Light has traditionally been the lean option. One meaningful change is that the Light fare can now be rebooked for a fee. That’s helpful if your plans are likely to move but you don’t want to pay for the most flexible fare. Classic and Flex add more inclusions and more freedom to change. Flex is the one corporate travellers tend to land on when meetings are likely to shift.
The question to ask is simple: what do I need, and what’s the cheapest fare that already includes it? If you need a checked bag, compare the cost of “Basic or Light plus a bag” against “the fare that already includes a bag”. Sometimes the bundled fare wins. Sometimes the add-on wins. It depends on the route and the date. The only way to know is to price both at the same time.
| What you need | Usually cheapest Lufthansa approach | What to check before paying |
|---|---|---|
| Laptop bag only | Economy Basic where offered | That your bag counts as a personal item, not a carry-on |
| Overhead carry-on | Light or Basic plus carry-on add-on | Whether Basic is even offered on the route |
| Checked suitcase | Compare bundled fare vs add-on | Price of each option at the same moment |
| Plans may change | Light with paid rebooking, or a more flexible fare | The rebooking fee versus the fare difference |
| Sports equipment | Fare with checked bag plus equipment rules | Lufthansa’s special baggage page for your item |
Lufthansa Express Rail and Rail-Air Options
There’s one Lufthansa option that often gets overlooked: you may not need to fly the domestic leg at all. Lufthansa has partnered with Deutsche Bahn so that ICE trains feed Frankfurt Airport from several German cities on a single booking. For an international trip through Frankfurt, that can replace a short feeder flight.
This matters for the total cost conversation. Say you’re flying from Cologne to New York via Frankfurt. The rail leg removes a whole layer of airport security and boarding. It also removes the risk of a short domestic flight being cancelled in bad weather. Frankfurt Airport has a long-distance rail station built into the terminal complex, so the transfer is quick. Our guide Frankfurt Airport Transfers: Long-Distance Rail Direct From the Terminal walks you through the station layout.
For purely domestic trips, the rail-air product isn’t the point. The underlying lesson still applies, though: the train is often the better tool for travel inside Germany, and you should compare rail and air fairly before defaulting to a plane.
Eurowings and Ryanair: How the Low-Cost Model Works
Eurowings is part of the Lufthansa Group but behaves much more like a low-cost carrier. Ryanair is the purest form of the low-cost model. Both can be cheap. Both can also become surprisingly expensive if you pack like a normal human being.
Eurowings Basic, Smart, and Best
Eurowings sells its fares in tiers, commonly Basic, Smart, and Best. The cheapest tier is built around a small piece of hand luggage. Larger carry-ons, checked bags, and seat choices cost extra, or come bundled in the higher tiers. Smart typically adds a checked bag and seat reservation. Best adds more flexibility and comfort extras. Exact inclusions can change, so read the fare panel during booking rather than relying on memory or a forum post.
Eurowings is a natural fit on routes such as Düsseldorf to Berlin, Hamburg to Stuttgart, or Cologne/Bonn to Munich, where it has historically had a strong presence. A typical Eurowings customer might be a project manager based in Düsseldorf who visits a client in Berlin twice a month. With nothing but a small bag, Basic may be ideal. Now picture a family relocating from Hamburg to Stuttgart, flying out with suitcases while the movers handle the furniture. For them, Smart or a bag add-on is unavoidable, and the fare comparison changes completely.
Here’s a habit that saves money with Eurowings. Price the tier you actually need first, then work down. Start with the fare that includes your suitcase, note the price, then check whether Basic plus a bag add-on comes out lower. People who start at the cheapest fare and add things one by one tend to lose track. People who start with a full-luggage price have a clear benchmark.
Ryanair’s Thin Domestic Network
I’ll be honest: Ryanair is mostly relevant to German travellers for international trips, not domestic ones. Ryanair has run domestic German routes at various times, but its schedule inside the country has generally been limited. It shifts with the airline’s commercial decisions and its long-running disputes over German airport charges and aviation taxes. Before you plan around Ryanair for a trip from, say, Berlin to Cologne, confirm that the route operates in your travel month.
When Ryanair does fly the route you need, its fare logic is very consistent. The base fare includes a small personal bag that must fit under the seat. A larger cabin bag requires a priority add-on. Checked bags come in lighter and heavier options, each priced separately. Seats are allocated randomly unless you pay. If you’re travelling as a couple and want to sit together, that’s an extra cost too.
Ryanair also likes airports that are far from the cities they name. A fare to an airport an hour or more from your actual destination can be cheap on the ticket and expensive in practice once you add the coach transfer and the time. That’s why I keep pointing people to Hahn, Weeze, and Memmingen: Budget Airports That Aren’t Where They Claim.
Airport Check-In, Boarding Passes, and Bag Size Traps
Low-cost carriers make a lot of money from mistakes. Ryanair has historically charged for checking in at the airport rather than online. Both Ryanair and Eurowings strictly enforce cabin bag sizes at the gate, and an oversized carry-on can lead to a gate fee that costs far more than booking the bag in advance would have. Check each airline’s own baggage page for the current fees and dimensions. Do it before you buy, not at the gate.
Some practical habits that have saved me money:
- Measure your bag at home with a tape measure, including wheels and handles, and compare it to the airline’s published limits.
- Check in online as soon as the window opens, and download the boarding pass to your phone.
- Add bags during the initial booking, when they’re usually cheapest. Avoid adding them at the airport.
- Take a screenshot of your booking confirmation showing the bag allowance, in case there’s a dispute at the desk.
- If you’re travelling with skis, a bike, or a musical instrument, book special baggage in advance. See our guide Travelling With a Bike, Surfboard, or Skis in Germany: Transport Rules for how trains compare.
The emotional cost is real too. Nothing ruins the start of a holiday like standing at a gate at Hamburg Airport while an agent pushes your bag into a sizer, and you realise you’re about to pay a fee you could have avoided. If you’ve been there, you’re not alone. Almost every expat I know has a gate-fee story.
Total Cost With Bags: Building a Realistic Comparison
This is where it all comes together. The table below doesn’t use euro amounts, because fares move daily and add-on prices vary by route and booking date. Instead it shows which cost layers apply, so you can price each one yourself.
| Cost layer | Lufthansa | Eurowings | Ryanair | ICE train | Long-distance bus |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Base fare | Varies by fare family, including Economy Basic on select routes | Varies by tier | Varies, often lowest headline | Varies with Sparpreis or Flexpreis | Usually lowest |
| Overhead carry-on | Paid add-on with Basic, included in some fares | Paid with lowest tier | Paid priority add-on | Included, reasonable luggage | Usually included within limits |
| Checked suitcase | Add-on or bundled in higher fares | Add-on or bundled in Smart and above | Paid, lighter and heavier options | No check-in, you carry it | Usually included within limits |
| Seat selection | Depends on fare | Paid in lowest tier | Paid to choose | Optional paid reservation | Sometimes paid |
| Airport or station transfer | Both ends, often by S-Bahn or train | Both ends | Both ends, sometimes long coach | Usually city centre stations | Usually central or edge-of-centre stops |
| Security and buffer time | Significant | Significant | Significant | Minimal | Minimal |
| Changes | Light rebookable for a fee, flexible fares cost more | Depends on tier | Paid changes | Depends on ticket type | Depends on fare |
Scenario One: A Solo Day Trip from Frankfurt to Berlin
Meet Priya. She’s a software engineer in Frankfurt with a full-day client workshop in Berlin. She’ll carry a laptop backpack and nothing else. On a route where Lufthansa offers Economy Basic, her personal item may fit within the allowance, so the base fare really is her fare. Then she adds the S-Bahn or regional train to Frankfurt Airport, the transfer from BER into Berlin, and security time at both ends.
Against that, the ICE leaves Frankfurt Hauptbahnhof and arrives at Berlin Hauptbahnhof, in the centre. Priya can work on her laptop the whole way. For her, the comparison comes down to the fare difference against the productive hours she gains or loses. Many professionals choose the train on this route for exactly that reason. Our guide Berlin Brandenburg Rail Links: Which Ticket Covers the Airport Zone explains the transfer costs at the Berlin end in detail.
Scenario Two: A Family of Four from Berlin to Munich
Now meet the Okafors: two adults, two children, and two big suitcases for a week in Bavaria. On a low-cost fare, every add-on gets multiplied by four for seats and by two for suitcases. Seat selection stops being optional, because nobody wants a seven-year-old sitting alone ten rows away. Suddenly the cheapest fare tier is the most expensive way to fly, and a bundled fare or a different carrier may win.
On the train, the suitcases simply come along. Children often travel at reduced or free fares when accompanied, depending on the ticket, so check Deutsche Bahn’s rules. The kids can also move around the carriage. For a family, the honest comparison often favours rail. Our guide Berlin to Munich: Train, Bus, and Flight Priced Side by Side runs through this exact route.
Scenario Three: A Winter Sports Traveller Heading South
Finally there’s Tom, a British expat in Hamburg heading to the Allgäu with skis and boots. A low-cost fare into Memmingen might look tempting. Then he adds the ski carriage fee, the checked boot bag, and the onward transport from Memmingen to his resort, and the numbers change fast. Taking the train with skis has its own logistics, but there are no special equipment fees in the airline sense.
For Tom, the right answer depends on how much equipment he’s carrying and how far his resort is from the airport. That’s why I always recommend pricing both options with all the gear included. If you’re thinking about a car instead, Renting a Car vs Booking Rail Tickets in Germany: Total Cost by Itinerary covers that trade-off.
Why Omio Is the Smartest Way to Compare Flights Against Trains and Buses
You’ve seen how messy this gets. Prices sit on different airline websites, rail fares on another, bus fares on a third, and your browser fills up with tabs. This is where Omio comes in, and it’s the tool I recommend to every newcomer who asks me how to get around Germany without losing a weekend to research.
One Search, Every Mode
The biggest strength of Omio is that it puts flights, trains, and buses for the same route side by side in a single search. Type Hamburg to Munich, pick your date, and you can compare the flight options with ICE departures and long-distance buses on one screen. That is exactly the comparison this whole article argues for. You stop asking “which flight is cheapest?” and start asking “which way of getting there is cheapest and most sensible for me?”
That shift matters because the cheapest flight isn’t the right comparison point. The right comparison point is the best trip. When you see a train’s journey time next to a flight’s journey time, with the city-centre departure next to an airport departure, you can judge the airport transfer and security buffer for yourself instead of forgetting them. For bus-versus-rail details, our guide FlixBus vs Deutsche Bahn: Total Cost and Time on Germany’s Main Routes goes deeper, and Omio lets you check those same options live for your dates.
Booking in English With a Foreign Card
Many expats and tourists struggle with German booking sites. Some menus only partly translate. A foreign card gets declined at the last step. A name field won’t accept the way your passport is formatted. Omio was built for an international audience, with an English interface and support for common international payment methods. For anyone who isn’t yet comfortable navigating German-language checkout pages, that removes a lot of friction.
I still remember helping a visiting friend from Canada who had spent an hour trying to book a regional connection on a site that kept rejecting her card. She switched to Omio and had her ticket on her phone in minutes. Your experience may vary depending on the route and the operator, and Omio may add a service fee to some bookings. Look at the final price at checkout and compare it with the operator’s own site if you want to be thorough. If language barriers are a recurring headache for you, read Booking German Transport in English: Sites That Work and Sites That Don’t.
A Step-by-Step Omio Routine for Total-Cost Comparisons
Here is the exact routine I use:
- Open Omio and enter your departure city, destination city, and travel date. Use city names rather than airport names, so trains and buses show up alongside flights.
- Look at all modes together before filtering. Note the fastest option, the cheapest option, and the most convenient departure time.
- For each flight you’re considering, open the fare details and check exactly what luggage is included. Pay particular attention to whether a Lufthansa result is Economy Basic with a personal item only.
- Write down the price of the fare that actually covers your luggage, not the headline fare.
- Estimate airport transfer costs at both ends, and add a realistic buffer for security and boarding.
- Compare that full flight total against the best train and bus options shown in the same Omio search.
- Check the change and cancellation terms for your top two choices, especially if your plans might move.
- Book through Omio, save the ticket to your phone, and take a screenshot of the confirmation showing your luggage entitlements.
This routine takes about ten minutes once you’re used to it. It has saved me real money and more than one stressful morning at an airport I shouldn’t have been at. If you want to stop guessing and start comparing whole trips, try your next route on Omio and see the full picture.
Common Mistakes and Final Checks Before You Book
Even with a good comparison tool, a few mistakes keep tripping up travellers in Germany. Here are the ones I see most often in expat forums and from friends.
Forgetting the Airport Transfer and the Return Journey
People price the outbound flight carefully and then forget that the return trip has the same bag fees and the same transfers all over again. A round trip doubles every add-on. It also doubles the time you spend on S-Bahn trains to airports. Munich Airport, for example, sits well outside the city, and getting into town takes planning. Our guide Munich Airport Transfers: S-Bahn, Lufthansa Express Bus, and Taxi Compared lays out the options.
Another common slip is pricing a bag for the outbound leg only. You’ll come back with souvenirs, Christmas market gifts, or a winter coat you didn’t need on the way out. If there’s any chance your luggage will grow, price the bag for both directions from the start. Adding it later almost always costs more.
Ignoring Change Rules and Disruption
Domestic flights in Germany can be hit by weather, strikes, and air traffic restrictions, just like trains. The difference is what happens when your plans change on your side. With the new Lufthansa fare structure, Light can now be rebooked for a fee. That is useful flexibility, but it isn’t free. Economy Basic is built for people who are confident their plans won’t move. Eurowings’ and Ryanair’s lowest fares also tend to have restrictive change rules.
Before booking, ask yourself honestly how likely it is that the trip will shift. If it’s a work trip that depends on a client meeting, paying for flexibility might be the cheapest choice overall. For what you can expect back when things go wrong, read Refunds and Changes on German Transport: What You Actually Get Back.
When Flying Within Germany Still Wins
I don’t want to leave you thinking you should never fly domestically. There are routes and situations where flying genuinely makes sense:
- Long north-south journeys when rail options are disrupted or slow on your date.
- Trips where you’re connecting to an international flight at a hub.
- Situations where your departure point sits right next to an airport but far from a major rail station.
If you’re travelling light with just a personal item, a lean fare like Economy Basic on a route where it’s offered can be good value.
For regular domestic travel, compare the economics of rail passes and individual tickets too. Our guide Deutschlandticket vs ICE Tickets: Break-Even by Route and Journey Time helps you see whether a subscription changes the picture for your travel patterns.
The bottom line: never compare headline fares. Compare whole trips, with bags, transfers, and time included, across every mode. Running that comparison in Omio before each booking is the most reliable way I’ve found to avoid paying for a “bargain” flight that turns out to be the most expensive way to cross Germany.
Disclaimer
This article is for general informational purposes only and does not constitute professional advice. Laws, prices and regulations vary by location and change over time. Consult a qualified professional for guidance on your specific situation.
