Ryanair announces Cuts to Cabin Baggage Allowances

Europe’s busiest airline Ryanair has recently announced it will be making changes to its cabin baggage allowances. From November 1st, non priority passengers will no longer be allowed to carry 2 bags onto their flight as hand luggage. The check in bag allowance will also be increased and the fees reduced in an attempt to reduce the number of customers with two bags and help to deal with delays at the boarding gates.

Customers who’ve paid for priority boarding, which costs £5/5EUR, will still be allowed to take two bags into the cabin. Other passengers will be required to place their larger bag in the hold at the boarding gate – which will be free of charge. Passengers who refuse to put their bag in the hold will not be allowed to travel and won’t receive a refund for the cost of their flight.

How are the rules changing?

The current rules on Ryanair flights allow passengers to carry two items of luggage into the cabin. The maximum size for hand luggage is 55cm x 40cm x 20cm with a 10kg weight limit. Passengers are also allowed to carry a small bag, laptop bag or handbag with a maximum size of 35cm x 20cm x 20cm.

From 1st November, passengers will still be allowed to bring two bags through security and to the gate, but only those who’ve paid for priority boarding will be allowed to carry both into the cabin. The larger bag will be put into hold at the boarding gate free of charge.

Passengers who are travelling with an infant will still be able to carry a second small bag with a maximum weight of 5kg. If passengers want to take both bags into the cabin, they can do this if they pay extra £5 for a priority boarding pass. This includes the Plus, Flexi Plus and Family Plus priority boarding passes.

The current cost of checking in bags is £35/35EUR, which will be reduced to encourage more passengers to only bring one piece of hand luggage onto their flight. The new check in bag allowance will be increased to 20kg (previously 15kg) and the new fee will be £25/25EUR – £10 cheaper than the current price. Passengers who check in their bags at the airport online will pay an increased fee of £40/40EUR.

Why are they changing?

Ryanair’s chief marketing officer Kenny Jacobs has 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.”

It’s thought the lost baggage fees of these new policies will cost Ryanair money overall. The main goal of the changes is to reduce the delays that are being seen on flights at the moment. According to Ryanair, the current policies on cabin baggage and the volume of passengers are the main cause of the flight delays. The goal of these new policies is to improve customer satisfaction.

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