This is absurd, truly absurd

What are these people thinking?

Headline air fares could rise by £80 if a law to ban “drip pricing” is introduced.

The government announced a consumers’ bill in the King’s Speech, granting new powers to enable “growing consumer harms” to be tackled.

Drip pricing is the practice in which businesses advertise only part of a product’s price upfront and reveal other charges later in the buying process.

It would ban airlines from charging extra for luggage, seat selection, travel insurance or food and drink vouchers at the point of purchase.

Breaking out the prices of the varied parts enables greater consumer choice. Greater consumer choice is a good thing. Insisting on rebundling the unbundled is therefore a decrease in consumer utility. And why would any government try to do that?

As it happens one of us is making regular short haul trips for family reasons. We are, therefore, intimately acquainted with the routine. Buy the ticket, agree to nothing additional and get to see Dear Old Mum for peanuts. Why would - again - any government want to insist that payment must also be made for a seat reservation, hold bag and even a cup of airline coffee?

This is a nonsense. Perhaps it is time for someone else to have a go if this is the new legislative agenda.