Ryanair will soon make passengers who wish to travel
with bags that weigh over 10kg (the weight limit for bags permitted as
hand luggage) pay £5 per piece of checked luggage, or
£2. 50 per bag if it has been registered in advance on the
airline’s website – an initiative the budget airline claims will mean
only 25 per cent of its passengers losing out financially.
For those
who have bags that weigh more than 20kg, there will be an excess
baggage fee of £5. 50 per kg.

This means that for example, two people cannot share
their luggage allowance. This is a u-turn to existing policy
where
Ryanair used to allow passengers travelling together to pool their
baggage allowance. The move will penalise families with young
children
in particular, as children do not have a separate baggage allowance so
their belongings must be included in their parents’
allowance.

For passengers travelling with hand luggage only, the
new rules could be good news, as those in possession of an EU passport
will now be able to check in online at


www.
ryanair. com


,
before going to the airport and will be eligible for priority
boarding.

The charges will apply to bookings made after March
16.

Also from March 16, Ryanair
will allow passengers to by-pass airport check-in if they have
previously checked in on the carrier’s website. This service
is
available to EU passport holders travelling with hand luggage only and
mirrors a similar recent move by smaller low-cost rival
Flybe. These
passengers will be given ‘priority boarding’ which will also reduce
boarding gate queues. However, passengers checking in baggage
on
flights booked after March 16 will now pay a fee — 2. 50 stg (3. 50
eur)
per bag, per flight, if booked in advance on the website, or 5. 0 stg
(7. 00 eur) per bag, per flight, if presented unbooked at the
airport.

Simultaneously, Ryanair is increasing each passenger’s
luggage allowance from the current 25 kgs to 30 kgs — comprising 10
kgs carry-on and 20 kgs checked in luggage, a move it reckons will
substantially reduce excess baggage fees.

Passengers who check-in on the web claiming hand
luggage only but then turn up at the boarding gate with baggage will be
sent back to the check-in desk and ‘fined’ £25.