Flying with Ryanair is generally not a pleasant experience, to put it mildly. But we'll gladly grin and bear the lack of leg room and expensive snacks if it means a cheaper ticket and a cabin baggage allowance that lets us bring two bags into the cabin.
However, an upcoming change in its baggage policy, announced by the today, could make the budget airline a less appealing choice. From November, many passengers will no longer be able to bring two pieces of luggage into the cabin unless they pay for priority boarding, reported the BBC.
Anyone else will have to put their second bag into the hold at the gate. This will be free of charge but means passengers will face a delay waiting for their bag to come around the carousel at their destination. Flyers will also still have to take their bag through security, so won’t be able to bring unlimited liquids or bring banned items such as razors.
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Ryanair said the policy change will reduce delays before take-off as there will be less risk of late boarders holding up the plane while they look for bag space in the overhead cabins.
The airline will also encourage more of us to check in our luggage by cutting the fee for bigger bags from £35 to £25 and upping the allowance for check-in bags from 15kg to 20kg, the BBC reported.
Last month, the airline called out customers for “abusing” their policy of allowing them to bring a second bag on board for free, claiming they “were victims of [their] own niceness”. Hmm.
According to Richard Westcott, the BBC’s transport correspondent, Ryanair “makes money by filling its planes and minimising delays on the ground,” and the policy change will both reduce delays and save the airline money.