Ryanair has announced that it’s restricting passengers to one small piece of hand luggage on its flights to reduce delays.
Reception of the news has been mixed, but I think it’s a positive move, and it seems most of you agree.
When publishing this story yesterday (6 September), we included a poll asking loveMONEY reader's opinion on the move. At the time of republishing today, almost two-thirds (64%) of you voted in support of the change.
Hold on – what’s changing?
The budget airline is changing its popular two carry-on baggage rule to one, claiming that it will reduce the number of flight and boarding delays. As it stands, there’s not enough overhead space for the number of carry-on bags.
It’s not a totally raw deal for somebody who wants to take on two items of hand luggage though.
From 1 November, the airline will increase its checked-in bag allowance from 15kg to 20kg and standard check-in bag fees will be cut from £35 to £25 for a 20kg bag.
People who have added priority boarding can still take a second case onboard, but priority boarding itself will set you back an extra £5.
Everyone else is entitled to take on one small bag, while the second wheelie bag will be placed in the hold for free at the boarding gate.
A small bag is classed as 35cm x 20cm x 20cm.
Ryanair’s Kenny Jacobs said: "We hope that restricting non-priority customers to one small carry-on bag... will speed up the boarding of flights and eliminate flight delays being caused by not having sufficient overhead cabin space on busy flights to accommodate over 360 (182 customers x 2 bags) carry-on bags."
As mentioned earlier, you can add on priority boarding for £5 at the time of booking or added to a booking for £6 and is available for up to an hour before scheduled departure.
Why it’s a good thing
This move should cut delays – definitely one of the most frustrating things at the boarding gate.
If you simply ask people to volunteer to put their baggage in the hold, you start to see the ‘bystander effect’ where nobody steps in and passengers start huffing and tapping their feet because of the lengthy wait.
Having a one bag policy in place eases this issue altogether.
This happened on a flight to Russia with KLM that I was on last year. The staff repeatedly asked customers if they’d like to put their bags in the hold, and nobody budged.
That’s before you’ve even stepped on the plane. Aside from waiting at the boarding gate for ages, you’ve got an awkward wait in the aisle as you wait for people to sort themselves out.
The unlucky travellers who board last are stuck for places to stow their luggage as the lockers have been stuffed with wheelie suitcases, leaving little room to squeeze their reasonably-sized rucksacks in.
Besides, the longest Ryanair flight is about four and a half hours long, so putting larger cases in the hold shouldn’t be a big deal.
What other passengers think
As expected, most of the reaction to the baggage rule change has been not-so-complimentary. Some think that, contrary to what the airline is trying to achieve, the move will cause even more delays. What's worse is that it'll put more strain on the staff:
The new Ryanair carry on baggage rules are extremely unfair on baggage staff, only going to cause more delays.
— Stephen Brian Lowe (@SBrianLowe) September 6, 2017
Passengers who stuck to the rules are also unhappy:
Very disappointed @Ryanair changed its carry on baggage policy. Instead of punishing compliant passengers, it should crack down on abusers. https://t.co/CVhf8qKDEg
— Hilary Fitzgibbon (@hilary_fitzg) September 6, 2017
It's not all bad. Some have applauded Ryanair's effort to ease the problem:
Good initiative @RyanAir, well done. It was getting chaotic. https://t.co/OCJjQlprf8
— Henry Pryor (@HenryPryor) September 6, 2017
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