Ryanair's new baggage policy comes into effect
Thursday, November 1, 2018 @ 8:57 PM
Ryanair and Hungary's low cost airline Wizz Air will both be applying a new hand baggage policy as of Thursday November 1st in an attempt to reduce delays.
Ryanair will be making customers pay to take a wheelie bag (10kg maximum) with them, a service that has been free up until now. Priority-boarding customers will still be able to take on two free bags (one small carry-on and one wheelie bag). Priority boarding costs from 6€ each way. Importantly, Ryanair will only allow a maximum of 95 (out of 189 potential passengers per plane) to buy priority boarding. Once this is sold out, customers will have to check their bag in before security, at a cost of 16€-20€ return.
Similarly, from November 1st, all Wizz Air passengers will be entitled to bring one free carry-on bag up to a size of 40cm x 30cm x 20cm on board to be placed under the seat in front of them. Passengers who have purchased priority boarding will be permitted to bring an extra wheelie bag (maximum size 55cm x 40cm x 23 cm). Additionally, Wizz Air is introducing a new type of checked-in bag with a 10 kg allowance from 7€, besides the available 20 and 32 kg options.
The new rules, which Ryanair first announced at the end of August, are aimed at reducing delays and lowering the cost of checked-in luggage. Previously, all passengers could bring on board one standard-sized wheelie bag plus a small carry-on free of charge. But unless passengers had bought priority boarding (from 6€), the wheelie bag was tagged at the gate and put in the hold. Most travellers have been happy with this, but it has meant that as many as 120 bags have been left waiting on the tarmac to be loaded onto the plane. This has caused significant delays, with ground staff often not immediately available to load them.
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