What a carry-on! Ryanair hikes bag charges

RYANAIR passengers will soon have to pay an £8 fee to bring a small wheelie suitcase on holiday.

The budget airline is facing another clash with disgruntled passengers after changing its cabin baggage policy for the second time in less than a year.

It insists this is not a money-making ploy – despite the fact it intends to reduce the amount passengers can carry without paying extra by almost two-thirds.

Passengers can currently bring one small cabin bag and one larger one – such as a small wheelie suitcase weighing up to 10kg – without having to pay, as part of their standard cabin baggage allowance.

In January, Ryanair began insisting that the larger item was put into the hold free of charge at the boarding gate, only allowing passengers to bring both bags into the cabin if they had paid £6 for priority boarding.

Now, from November 1, passengers will only be able to bring one small carry-on bag for free – and must pay a new £8 charge to store the larger one in the hold.

They can still bring the larger bag into the cabin if they pay £6 for priority boarding, although only a limited number on each flight will be allowed this option.

Anyone who has not paid extra and turns up at the gate with two bags will have to pay £25 to check one in. Ryanair insists it will generate ‘nothing’ extra from the new policy. It said the change is intended to speed up boarding and reduce delays caused by so many passengers bringing a second bag through security and leaving it at the gate.

It added that 60 per cent of customers would be unaffected by the change because 30 per cent already purchase priority boarding, while another 30 per cent already travel with just one smaller carry-on bag, which will remain free.

However, the change cuts the total volume of baggage allowed free of charge by almost two-thirds, from 58 litres to 20 litres.

One traveller, who has already booked a flight leaving after the new policy takes effect, wrote on Twitter: ‘I book with one baggage policy, now it appears I need to pay extra. Typical money grabbers. How do I go about obtaining a refund without calling up your stupidly expensive line? #ryanairripoff.’

Ryanair boasted in its annual report that it is squeezing more cash out of each passenger largely thanks to a surge in numbers opting for priority boarding.

It generated almost £5million a day – or just under £1.8billion in the year to the end of March – from ‘ancillary sales’, which includes everything from priority boarding to extra legroom, snacks and car hire. This was up £208million from the year before.

Kenny Jacobs, Ryanair’s marketing chief, said: ‘This new policy will speed up the boarding and cut flight delays.’