Ryanair to limit passengers to ONE hand luggage on planes unless you pay £5 (but they’ll check-in your suitcase for free)
RYANAIR is to restrict passengers to just one piece of hand luggage, after its two-carry on bag policy proved too popular with customers.
With passengers numbers having reached 97 per cent capacity in August, the budget airline said its overhead cabin space is getting too crowded with carry-on bags.
The airline claims this is causing boarding and flight delays due to a large number of cabin bag offloads.
Starting from November 1, only priority-boarding customers - who pay an extra £5 to £6 for the privilege - will be allowed two bags: one normal size (55cm x 40cm x 20cm) and one smaller bag (35cm x 20cm x 20cm).
Everyone else will just be allowed to carry a smaller bag, while wheelie-style suitcases will now be place in the hold at the boarding gate for free.
Customers who refuse to put their second bag in the hold - because they are carrying breakable items for example - will not be allowed to travel and will not be entitled to a refund.
The new rules will apply to all flights after November 1, regardless of when you booked.
Ryanair is also increasing its check-in bag allowance from 15kg to 20kg, while standard check-in bag fees will be cut from £35 to £25 for a 20kg bag.
What is changing?
RYANAIR will introduce the following policies from November 1
- The check-in bag allowance will increase from 15kg to 20kg for all bags
- The standard check-in bag fee will be cut from €/£35 to €/£25 for this 20kg bag
- Only Priority Boarding customers (including Plus, Flexi Plus & Family Plus) will be allowed to bring two carry-on bags on the aircraft
- All other (i.e. non-priority) customers will only be allowed to bring one smaller carry-on bag on board the aircraft, while their second (bigger) wheelie bag must be placed in the hold (free of charge) at the boarding gate
Ryanair estimates the move will cost the company over €50 million in reduced check bag fees.
Ryanair's Kenny Jacobs said the new policy will reduce delays.
He said: "We hope that by restricting non-priority customers to one small carry-on bag – their wheelie bag must be placed in the hold, free of charge at the boarding gate.
"This will speed up the boarding of flights and eliminate flight delays being caused by not having sufficient overhead cabin space on busy flights to accommodate over 360 (182 customers x 2 bags) carry-on bags."
BAG TO THE FUTURE Airline baggage allowance explained – from Ryanair to British Airways here’s what you can take on board
Ryanair shares fell 1 per cent on the open in London after the airline changed its baggage rules.
The policy is now more similar to the one of rival easyJet which allows only one piece of hand luggage, with a maximum size of 56x45x25cm, including handles and wheels.
Passengers can pay extra for an additional cabin bag, provided it's no bigger than 45x36x20cm, but you can take on brollies and a duty-free shopping bag for free.
Last month, Ryanair unveiled its new "game changer" seats designed to give passengers more legroom.
Ryanair - What you should know
ALL your questions about the new policy, answered
- Will I still be able to take 2 bags of cabin baggage on board? No for non-priority customers who will put their bigger (wheelie) cabin bag in the hold (free of charge), and will be able to take their smaller bag into the cabin.
- How will this change be implemented? There will be two queues at the gate: Priority customers 2/bags and non-priority/1 bag only.
- That sounds annoying. How much is Priority? €/£5 at the time of the flight booking. It can be added after booking (for €/£6) up to 1 hour before the scheduled flight departure time, via the Ryanair app.
- What about if I booked my flights before the new policy was implemented? The new baggage policy will start on 1st November, and will apply to all bookings made before and after 1st Nov, and flights from that date onwards.
- Will it still be cheaper to book a checked-in bag at the time of booking? Yes. The 20kg bag will be reduced in price to €/£25 at the time of booking only. Checked-in bags added after the time of booking or made at the airport will cost €/£40.
- I have a baby. Can I still bring a changing bag? Yes. A small (5kg) baby bag may be carried by customers with infants.
- I have a a waiver for medical items - does Ryanair still takes them onboard ?Yes, subject to contacting Ryanair's special assistance line in advance and complying with any requirements of our special assistance team.
The company's boss Michael O'Leary, who makes almost £8,000 a day, this summer also told angry passengers to pay extra or quit "whinging" about being seated randomly on flights.
The Sun Online previously reported that the airline is urging airports to ban the sale of alcohol before 10am and to limit the number of drinks per boarding pass to a maximum of two.
This might be because, boozed up passengers were recently hauled off a Ryanair flight by cops.
Another group of Brits was also turfed off a flight to Alicante after causing a drunker ruckus on the plane.
More stories about Ryanair
We pay for your stories! Do you have a story for The Sun Online Money team? Email us at [email protected] or call 0207 78 24516