Everything you need to know about Ryanair new baggage policy

Ryanair have a new baggage policy which takes into effect today. I don’t want any of my customer’s falling fowl of the new policy so below is the main points in summary.

Priority Boarding – From today only customers who pre-pay for ‘Priority Boarding’  are permitted to bring two carry on bags onto the aircraft. This includes passengers who have booked Plus, Flexi Plus or Family Plus fares.

Non Priority Boarding – Customers who have not pre-paid the €5 per flight priority fee or who have booked the basic flight cost (ie not Plus, Flexi or Family Plus) must hand over their small suitcase/hold all at the boarding gate to the staff. It will then be placed in the hold for free and will appear on the baggage belt at the other side. They will still be allowed to carry a small hand bag  or laptop bag but it must fit under the seat in front of them.

Ryanair have been on a charm offensive since the Pilot scandal in late September so this move does seem to have angered many customers and consumer professionals.

However, all is not lost. This new policy has seem them done away with the silly 15kg bag that you could prebook – all my shoes and hair stuff would weigh more than that together. Instead the lowest baggage you now can add is 20kg and the cost of this has been reduced from €35 to €25 – obviously the cost changes will be in GBP for any customers departing from a UK airport. In true Ryanair fashion they are whacking on a €10 per bag supplement for peak season. They deem this as Easter, Christmas and – yes you guessed it – the summer months. You didn’t think they had gone soft altogether did you!

Word of warning for those hot headed people at the boarding gate that refuse to part with their luggage. If you are not willing to give it up to the gods at the gate then you will find yourself being escorted back through security and turfed out on your bum. They have made it very clear their will be zero deviation from this scheme and will not tolerate any of your frustration being directed to the staff on the gate.

The new policy doesn’t bother me. I just didn’t like have to pre-pay for a small bag so if they want to take it off me at the gate I am happy enough. Truth be told, if they took it at check in well that would save me all the time and hassle at security and lugging the thing around the duty free.

I wonder is there an ASK MICHAEL chat on their website or Facebook. I wouldn’t mind making that suggestion 🙂