By Steve Creedy
Published Tue Sep 12 2017
Budget carrier Ryanair has raised another ruckus with new cabin bag policies aimed at minimising delays and preventing time-consuming overhead bin battles.
The low-cost airline had relaxed its carry-on allowance to permit customers to bring two bags into the cabin – a wheelie bag and a smaller bag such as laptop case — for free.
But officials said the number of people taking advantage of the policy combined with limited overhead bin space and load factors of 97 per cent in August saw a slew of boarding and flight delays.
In a move designed to speed up boarding, customers who have paid an extra €/£5 ($US5.98 to $US6.59) for priority boarding priority will be among the few allowed to bring two carry-on bags on to an aircraft from November 1.
They will be joined by those travelling on Plus, Flexi Plus and Family Plus tickets,
Other travellers will only be permitted to bring a smaller bag as carry on and their wheelie bags will have to travel in the hold.
Ryanair has softened the blow by not charging for the wheelie bag service, which works well on smaller turboprop aircraft in other parts of the world.
It has also increased its checked bag allowance from 15kg to 20kgs and dropped the fee for the heavier bag from €/£35 to €/£25 ($US29.90 to $US32.94).
“These bag policy changes will cost Ryanair over €50m per annum in reduced checked bag fees,’’ Ryanair chief marketing officer Kenny Jacobs said.
“However, we believe offering bigger bags at reduced fees will encourage more customers to consider checking-in a bag, which will reduce the high volume of customers we have with two carry-on bags at the boarding gates, which is causing flight delays due to large numbers of gate bag and cabin bag offloads.”
The reaction to the policy has been mixed, with some passengers denouncing the move as defacto cabin bag charge and accusing the airline of greed.
Others, however, have welcomed a policy which would see an end to the bin bunfight.
