[drflight]

https://corporate.ryanair.com/news/ryanair-non-priority-customers-must-put-2nd-bigger-bag-in-hold-free-of-charge-from-15-january/

[PhilipHart]

Many people have a downer on Ryanair, but at least their published cabin baggage policy is utterly clear; if you want to guarantee that your cabin baggage actually travels with you in the cabin, you simply have to pay for Priority Boarding.

Contrast that with Norwegian – a company that likes to think of itself as a cut above the other LoCos – who operate a Stealth Cabin Baggage Confiscation Policy.

[ImissConcorde]

Not sure that they should be putting more bags into the system. A friend travelled Gatwick to Dublin on 20th December. His bag didn’t arrive. He was unable to get through to the baggage department and the online system crashed. He collected his bag at Dublin airport on his return on 3rd January.

[Tom Otley]

The background is here

Ryanair to reduce baggage fees in bid to ease delays

Although it was then delayed (the change, not the bags)

Ryanair delays introduction of new baggage policy

[openfly]

Who are Ryanair?

[MartynSinclair]

I know the new hand baggage / checked baggage rules are well published, but just in case anyone needs clarification, here is another article which ends with an examination.. (wonder if CPD points are available… for those that need them.. )

https://news.sky.com/story/ryanair-change-rules-for-on-board-baggage-to-prevent-delays-11207945

[Cedric_Statherby]

It is good to see an airline trying to solve the problem of too much cabin baggage. We have all been on flights where the overhead bins are full long before all the passengers have boarded.

I would be far more radical and charge for cabin baggage. Indeed, charge more for cabin baggage than hold baggage. One would I suspect have to allow a small bag free, for (a) passports, which are usually needed on arrival before baggage reclaim, and (b) money, valuables (plus a book or kindle), and I don’t think any airline would dare deprive people of their (small) handbags, but other than that, in every sense taking something into the cabin is to demand an extra convenience and to use a resource in short supply (the overhead bins). So why not charge for it.

The ideal airline would make ordinary hold luggage free and charge say £20 per bag above a certain size in the cabin. This would free up space in the cabin and speed up boarding and disembarking.

I can see that the duty free industry and general retail side of airports would scream blue murder, but actually, I don’t feel very sorry for them. Almost nothing one buys in an airport is essential, and if it is, the cost of £20 at the gate on top of your purchase would merely be another thing to factor in to the purchase.

[alainboy56]

@PhilipHart — as indeed do EASYJET!

[MartynSinclair]

@ Cedric_Statherby – when I heard you mention charging for cabin baggage a few years back I became a big supporter of your idea and still am..

[alainboy56]

@Cedric_Statherby & @MartynSinclair – I am with you both on this subject – The amount of so called ‘Hand Luggage’ some people carry into the cabin is ridiculous.
And if the airlines would stop annoying us by charging ridiculous rates to put a bag in the hold, I am sure many people would just quietly let it be and put it below. I know I would revert to habit, as I was up to just a few years ago before all these annoying tricky ‘light’ fares, and that they now entice us with.

[Cedric_Statherby]

For Tom Otley

Tom – I have been suggesting that the scheme of paying for hold luggage and not hand-luggage is perverse and causing these problems for some time and in multiple forums. It is often well received by fellow travellers who have to suffer the consequences of today’s system – thank you @alainboy56 and @MartynSinclair for your kind words – but not one airline has ever paid any attention. Do you have any suggestions for how this can be raised with them? Their current methods are simply not only not working but making the mess worse, because they positively encourage people to use a scarce resource (the cabin) over a plentiful one (the hold).

[MartynSinclair]

and just out of interest, if the airlines did charge for hand baggage, I would have no qualms in paying, especially if it guaranteed locker space above my seat…

As you quite rightly state Cedric, the airport authorities would scream blue murder if passengers reduced their purchases due to the cabin baggage charges.

The pity is that airlines don’t arrange for the shopping to be put in a separate area of the boarding gate to be loaded separately. When the airline realises how much this is costing in terms of weight, perhaps their eyes would open and an income revenue realised..

[Author]

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