What You Need to Know About Ryanair’s New Baggage Fees

Following Thursday’s tip about the planned Ryanair cabin crew strike, here’s another Ryanair tip…

Last month, Ryanair announced new changes to its baggage fees—and then did it again two weeks later. What’s the deal? The Telegraph has a great breakdown of the policy going forward, which is worth a read. Here’s the gist: “Ryanair will no longer let passengers take small suitcases on its planes for free, with charges for cases 10kg and above being introduced in November. Passengers will still be allowed to take one small carry-on bag or free, as long as it fits under the seat in front of them.”

So what if you still want to bring a carry-on onboard? How much will it cost you? From the story: “You could plump for one of the limited priority boarding tickets (£6 each way) [equivalent to ~$8 each way], which permits passengers to take small suitcases up to 10kg [equivalent to ~22lbs] onto the aircraft for no extra charge. Priority tickets will be capped at 95 per flight, roughly half the capacity of a typical Ryanair flight. Alternatively, you could opt to check the bag into the hold, which will cost £8 [~$11] each way for cases weighing less than 10kg.”

As seen on the Ryanair website, there are a few other details, including the fact that the £8/~$11 check fee for bags up to 10kg jumps to £10/~$13 if you opt in online after the initial flight booking. In addition, “Non-priority customers who have not added a bag to their booking can still purchase a 10kg wheelie bag at the airport bag drop desk for €/£20 [~$26] or €/£25 [~$33] at the boarding gate” and the airline has “increased the permitted size of the free small carry-on bag by 43% from 35 x 20 x 20cm to 40 x 20 x 25cm.”

The most recent addendum doesn’t change anything for future passengers, but it does offer respite for people who booked (before August 31) flights set to depart after November 1. As written in The Independent: “Anyone who booked before 31 August, but subsequently paid for priority boarding after the new rules were announced, will have the €8 they paid refunded – yet they can still travel with priority boarding for free.”

Read the full Telegraph story for more (and if you booked a post-November 1 Ryanair flight before August 31, see the Independent for the update). Here’s the official policy on the Ryanair website.

Related: Ask a Pilot With Spencer: Low-Cost vs Ultra-Low-Cost Airlines

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