Countdown begins on new Ryanair carry-on policy

The countdown has begun on a new Ryanair cabin bag policy restricting many customers to just one smaller carry-on bag. The new policy is due to come into effect on January 15 and means only priority boarding customers will be allowed to take two carry-on bags on the aircraft. Priority customers include those on Plus, Flexi Plus and Family Plus tickets. Those who haven’t shelved out at least €5/£5 for priority boarding will see their wheelie bags disappear into the aircraft hold, although they won’t be charged for the privilege. The low cost carrier announced the policy in September as part of a bid to minimise delays and preventing time-consuming overhead bin battles. Read our review of Ryanair. The low-cost airline had earlier 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. To soften the blow of the new policy,  the LCC cut checked bag fees from €35 to €25 and increased the weight allowance from 15kg to 20kg. “This will speed up the boarding of flights and eliminate flight delays, alongside our new checked bag policy which offers our customers lower bag fees for a 33 per cent increase in their checked bag allowance,” Ryanair chief marketing officer Kenny Jacobs said in a reminder to customers. Meanwhile, up to 300 passengers with Ryanair and easyJet were stranded overnight at Stansted Airport on Wednesday because of bad weather. The BBC reported almost 60 flights were cancelled after the runway was shut twice on Wednesday to clear snow and ice. Ryanair said flights were operating normally by Thursday with some minor “knock on” delays.