Ryanair and other low-cost airlines are now more expensive on some short-haul routes than British Airways, an investigation by The Sunday Times has found.

A survey of flights to popular European destinations identified 10 on which it is more expensive to fly with Ryanair than British Airways, because BA includes as standard many of the services for which the low-cost airline charges extra.

In three cases BA flights were cheaper outright. In the seven others extra fees, such as charges for checking in a bag or processing payments, made Ryanair’s prices up to 50% higher if a passenger chose those services. EasyJet was more expensive than BA on four of the journeys.

While for most routes low-cost airlines remain the cheaper option, the survey suggests full-service airlines are beginning to fight back. Budget airlines now have so many extra charges for basic services that they can add up to far more than the advertised ticket price.

A passenger checking in 20kg of luggage for a return flight with Ryanair, paying for priority boarding and buying a snack and drink would pay an extra £194. EasyJet, by contrast, provides the same services for an extra £31, while British Airways includes the cost of checking in a 23kg bag, reserving seats, debit-card booking and snacks and refreshments.

The Sunday Times compared prices for return flights by seeking the lowest fare available on the day of travel and then adding the basic cost of checking in 15kg of baggage and priority boarding so that families could sit together.

Among the three cases in which BA cost less than the cheapest Ryanair ticket was a family of two adults and two children travelling to Ibiza with three bags for August 11-25. They would pay £913.20 with British Airways while Ryanair would charge £1,057 for the flights alone.

Checking in the bags would cost a further £60, with a £40 payment handling fee. The overall cost would be £1,157. EasyJet, by comparison, would charge £634.27.

A single passenger flying to Venice for Christmas on December 23-30 and checking in one bag would pay £89.30 with British Airways. The same journey with Ryanair would cost £109.52, not including additional fees of £20 for bags and a £10 payment handling fee. A flight with EasyJet would cost £121.62, including extras.

Four friends flying to Salzburg, Austria, for a skiing holiday on February 20-27 next year with two bags and two pairs of skis would pay £513 with British Airways, compared with £521.96 for the cheapest flight with Ryanair. It charges a further £120 for the skis, £40 for baggage and a £40 payment handling fee, leaving the group with a total bill of £721.96.

In the other cases it was the additional fees that pushed the cost of Ryanair flights above BA. Two adults flying to Barcelona for a long weekend from August 31 to September 3, checking in two bags, would pay £278 with British Airways. Flying the same day with Ryanair would cost £248.96 for the flights, £40 for baggage and a £20 payment handling fee. EasyJet would charge £210.

The analysis also included two cases showing the effect of Ryanair’s punitive fees for having baggage heavier than 15kg or for checking in at the airport instead of online.

James Fremantle, industry affairs manager of the Air Transport Users Council, said: “Overall, if you look at the fares, low-cost airlines are still the cheaper option. However, many of these extras seem arbitrary charges not related to the cost of the service.”

Claire Keane, a 39-year-old accountant from Chester, and three of her friends had to pay £80 in fees between them when they checked in at Liverpool airport for a flight to Faro, Portugal. One of her friends has an American passport and was not allowed to check in online. Keane said: “We were only going away for two nights so it took a good chunk of our holiday money.”

David Dimbleby, the presenter of BBC’s Question Time, who earlier this month was among 700 passengers stranded at Stansted, Essex, by Ryanair, said this weekend: “If I can possibly avoid it I’ll never fly Ryanair again. They treat their customers with contempt. It’s a false economy.”

A spokesman for Ryanair said the full fare was always advertised and was not hidden or misleading. He pointed to the fact that Ryanair had 67m passengers last year as evidence of its fair dealing. He claimed 80% of its passengers travelled without any baggage in the hold.

He said: “ These are strictly optional charges and the vast majority of our passengers choose to travel without paying them and benefit from cheaper flights. The comparison is unfair because it is not comparing like with like.”

A spokesman for EasyJet said the vast majority of its flights were cheaper than British Airways’.

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