Ryanair luggage revolt
Angry passengers facing £8 fee if bag doesn’t fit under seat in front
RYANAIR is facing a fresh passenger revolt after the first day of a draconian cabin baggage policy triggered anger and confusion yesterday.
The crackdown means passengers can no longer take a larger bag such as a wheelie suitcase with them on to a plane for free.
But the new rules caused such confusion that the airline showed some rare discretion by waiving fees in some cases.
Passengers now have to pay a fee of at least £8 to check-in any bag weighing up to 10kg that does not fit under the seat in front. The new allowance is now set for bags measuring a maximum of 40cm by 25cm by 20cm.
The only way to take two items of hand luggage on board – or a single larger item such as a wheelie suitcase – is by paying £6 per journey for priority boarding. But there are only a limited number of these slots available
‘Many reasons to boycott Ryanair’
per flight. Those without priority boarding who turn up at the gate with a larger item that will not fit under a seat have to pay a £25 fee.
Despite widely publicising the latest changes, many Ryanair passengers appeared oblivious as they turned up at airports for their flights.
Those at Stansted with larger items were let off the fee, with the airline confirming it had instructed staff to give passengers some leeway while the new regime beds in.
A spokesman said yesterday: ‘While our new bag policy has come in to effect today, we have briefed our gate agents to take a reasonable approach while customers get used to the new rules’
But that didn’t stop passengers venting their frustration on social media.
Robert Davidson wrote on Twitter: ‘I suppose it won’t be long before you start charging if people want to travel with both of their arms.’ Another customer said: ‘There are many reasons to boycott Ryanair but the new baggage prices will do for me.’
Others jokingly posted mock images of tiny bags that can fit in the palm of a hand, while one passenger published a picture of large queues at Ryanair checkin desks at Rome Fiumicino airport yesterday morning.
Until yesterday, passengers could take two items of luggage with them, but the larger item would have to be left at the boarding gate and stored in the hold for free. This policy was introduced in January to cut delays caused by passengers bringing more bags than could fit in the overhead lockers. But it backfired as too many passengers were leaving bags at the gate, causing more hold -ups.
Ryanair insists the new policy will affect less than half of passengers while speeding up boarding and cutting delays. Budget rival Wizz Air also introduced a similarly strict new cabin bag regime yesterday.
Both airlines have now fallen foul of Italian authorities, which say that taking hand baggage is a basic part of flying and that passengers are being misled over the true cost of a ticket.
Italy’s antitrust watchdog has launched an investigation.
Ryanair’s new policy is likely to encourage even more passengers to rush to pay for priority boarding.
There has been a surge in the number of passengers paying this premium to bring an extra bag with them since the policy change in January.
In its financial results, the Irish-based carrier revealed the amount it generated from ‘ancillary sales’ soared by 27 per cent to £1.15billion in the six months to the end of September.
It said ‘ key drivers of this growth were improved conversion of priority boarding and reserved seating.’