the system we have is nuts. it should be free checking for bags (under a certain weight) and pay for overhead bin privilege. due to the insane way we do it, overhead bins are what slow down boarding and deplaning.
"99.9% of our passengers don't break the rules, they don't get penalised. The 0.1% of the guys who delay the boarding process, the guys who are there delaying the departure of the aircraft because their bag doesn't fit in the overhead (cabin), they are going to pay and we're going to eliminate them."
Somehow I doubt the compliance rate is anywhere near 99.9% -- that's roughly 1 passenger breaking the rules every 5 flights? Would they really be investing so much (including having the CEO spend time on air to rant) in catching the delinquents if that's the scale of the problem?
As someone who mostly follows the rules, the thing that really bothers me about Ryanair and the like are, I'll get to the airport at least 2 hours early as I'm supposed to, and then there'll be a massive hour+ long check-in queue (which I have to wait in just to show my passport, even if I'm not checking bags, since online check in never seems to work when I need to enter passport info), and all the while they'll have staff shouting "Anyone going to <destination of flight that closes boarding in 20-30 minutes>?" and shepherding those passengers to the front of the queue. It irritates me to no end -- why the hell should I bother arriving early if I'm just going to be punished with a longer wait for it?
I wish whatever they decide to do could be clear and fairly applied.
For example, there are plenty of stories on TikTok of travellers being penalised for bags which fit into the Ryanair sizing tool, but which bulge ever so slightly out on the open side. There are businesses now which cater to Ryanair’s specific regulations in response.
As a result, when I flew with them recently, I was careful (almost to the point of paranoia!) to meet their specifications; and yet many passengers on the same flight were egregiously breaching the sizing rules, and not a single person was challenged.
I see that this article says they were already giving 1.50 euro bonuses for this; on the other hand this other article from just a few months back says they "categorically denied" paying commissions for oversized bag detection:
O'Leary is on record as saying that this kind of "bad publicity" story is actually good for the business, because it builds up the Ryanair image that the base price of the tickets is extremely low and keeps them in the minds of potential customers. So I'm always a bit sceptical about how much this kind of story is real vs just a successful attempt to get their brand all across the news for a day...
> "I am going to eliminate the scourge of this 0.1% of passengers who simply will not comply with our baggage rules. Please fly with somebody else we don't want your business."
Trust me, this man VERY much wants the business, he makes all profit from that, they also wont let you checking 3 hours before the flight for free. You need to go to a physical kiosk for them to print your ticket, for the lovely fee of 60EUR.
They upcharge everything and it's fine.
The people who have slightly bigger bags are not intentionally bringing those extra 500 grams of clothing and chancing their arm.
> "eliminate the scourge"
I like Oleary, but this is just lazy ragebaiting from him now.
For non EU people, Ryanair is like the evil version of spirit airlines, so this is not surprising. They are well known to refuse cabin bags that were bought specifically for their sizing requirements. And passengers who do bring cabin luggage that does not «fit» to the boarding gate will either have it refused or placed in the aircraft's hold for a fee of up to €75. Many people have complained that these specifications havent been enforced fairly, but I suppose this is a win for the shareholders
So the commission will drive much more "conversions" and generate more revenues due to "unfitting" bags?
Ryanair already has a lot of dark patterns and excessive fees (e.g. assigning random seats to members of the same family, just to force them pay extra to seat next to each other)
I'm the 0.1% scourge. I've been flying Ryanair for 10 years and I always told myself I'll change my (very slightly off chart) cabin bag the first time they fine me. Also it always fits and it never caused delay as far as I'm aware.
I actively avoid them due to their crappy behaviour around cabin luggage
They use(d) a “smaller size than other European airlines and I’ve seen them check entire flights one by one during boarding and fine everyone over their stupid non standard size. Pretty much all the people with hard cases got nailed with fines
The real, adjusted cost of air travel has gotten to be so low because RyanAir is willing to push conventional norms. You are not required to book a ticket with them. You are more than welcome to pay British Airways 2x the money to go to the same destination. Be very careful what you ask for when it comes to onerous regulation -- The EU is great at causing unintended side effects.
This is just marketing. They always do this because they know that if they say "Oh, we might charge for bathroom, we might charge even more for oversized cabin bags" then they know that the majority who doesn't bring oversized cabin bags is gonna feel like "Wow, this really must be the most low-cost possible" and they perceive that the value is more because they think that they are getting a great deal and don't get me wrong I fly with Ryanair all the time I find it very good but it's kind of marketing stunts.
The last time I flew with Ryanair (and hopefully the last time I’ll ever have to), I made sure our hand luggage met their cabin size requirements—I didn’t fancy waiting around for it at the other end anyway.
Only for it to be collected at the gate and put in the hold anyway, meaning we had to wait for it after all. At least they forgot to charge me for the inconvenience, which given the rest of my experience could almost have been considered a mistake from their side.
Then there was the return journey: the boarding pass couldn’t be printed until just a few hours before departure, by which time getting access to a printer was tricky. But, as with all things Ryanair, there was of course an option to pay and make the problem go away. Out of sheer stubbornness, I found a workaround. If I factor in the time spent, it probably cost me more—but by that point, I was so utterly fed up with their relentless upselling that I refused to give them another penny.
And finally, during a layover before the last leg of our journey, we ended up sat in a grounded aircraft in full sun for 2–3 hours, with small children onboard and barely any information before we could leave the plane. While we waited, another passenger collapsed from what I understood to be severe hypoglycaemia, at which point people started calling out for anything sugary.
As far as I remember (this was over a decade ago and I had three young kids with me a few rows back), the person was helped thanks to another passenger who recognised what was going on and acted quickly—not because of any intervention from the crew.
If you can avoid Ryanair, do. I’ve no issue with trading comfort for a lower fare—but Ryanair doesn’t feel like a cheaper flight because they’ve cut costs. It feels like they’ve gone out of their way to invent new ways to make life miserable, just so they can charge you for relief.
Their latest sham is the bag sizing box that has one side open. So, even if your bag would actually fit into a volume of the required size, if any of it is loose (often the case with soft bags)then it’s “too big”.
I recently saw a lady try to make this point to them, only for the staff to keep repeating “but it sticks out”. In the end, the lady had to take the belt off her jacket and wrap it around the bag just to make the point. What a waste of time.
People who defend this airline “because it’s cheap” are just degrading themselves quite frankly. It’s awful and we shouldn’t be accepting of it.
17 comments
[ 2.9 ms ] story [ 31.7 ms ] threadSomehow I doubt the compliance rate is anywhere near 99.9% -- that's roughly 1 passenger breaking the rules every 5 flights? Would they really be investing so much (including having the CEO spend time on air to rant) in catching the delinquents if that's the scale of the problem?
As someone who mostly follows the rules, the thing that really bothers me about Ryanair and the like are, I'll get to the airport at least 2 hours early as I'm supposed to, and then there'll be a massive hour+ long check-in queue (which I have to wait in just to show my passport, even if I'm not checking bags, since online check in never seems to work when I need to enter passport info), and all the while they'll have staff shouting "Anyone going to <destination of flight that closes boarding in 20-30 minutes>?" and shepherding those passengers to the front of the queue. It irritates me to no end -- why the hell should I bother arriving early if I'm just going to be punished with a longer wait for it?
For example, there are plenty of stories on TikTok of travellers being penalised for bags which fit into the Ryanair sizing tool, but which bulge ever so slightly out on the open side. There are businesses now which cater to Ryanair’s specific regulations in response.
As a result, when I flew with them recently, I was careful (almost to the point of paranoia!) to meet their specifications; and yet many passengers on the same flight were egregiously breaching the sizing rules, and not a single person was challenged.
https://www.dublinlive.ie/lifestyle/travel/ryanair-set-recor...
O'Leary is on record as saying that this kind of "bad publicity" story is actually good for the business, because it builds up the Ryanair image that the base price of the tickets is extremely low and keeps them in the minds of potential customers. So I'm always a bit sceptical about how much this kind of story is real vs just a successful attempt to get their brand all across the news for a day...
Trust me, this man VERY much wants the business, he makes all profit from that, they also wont let you checking 3 hours before the flight for free. You need to go to a physical kiosk for them to print your ticket, for the lovely fee of 60EUR.
They upcharge everything and it's fine.
The people who have slightly bigger bags are not intentionally bringing those extra 500 grams of clothing and chancing their arm.
> "eliminate the scourge"
I like Oleary, but this is just lazy ragebaiting from him now.
Ryanair already has a lot of dark patterns and excessive fees (e.g. assigning random seats to members of the same family, just to force them pay extra to seat next to each other)
They use(d) a “smaller size than other European airlines and I’ve seen them check entire flights one by one during boarding and fine everyone over their stupid non standard size. Pretty much all the people with hard cases got nailed with fines
Only for it to be collected at the gate and put in the hold anyway, meaning we had to wait for it after all. At least they forgot to charge me for the inconvenience, which given the rest of my experience could almost have been considered a mistake from their side.
Then there was the return journey: the boarding pass couldn’t be printed until just a few hours before departure, by which time getting access to a printer was tricky. But, as with all things Ryanair, there was of course an option to pay and make the problem go away. Out of sheer stubbornness, I found a workaround. If I factor in the time spent, it probably cost me more—but by that point, I was so utterly fed up with their relentless upselling that I refused to give them another penny.
And finally, during a layover before the last leg of our journey, we ended up sat in a grounded aircraft in full sun for 2–3 hours, with small children onboard and barely any information before we could leave the plane. While we waited, another passenger collapsed from what I understood to be severe hypoglycaemia, at which point people started calling out for anything sugary.
As far as I remember (this was over a decade ago and I had three young kids with me a few rows back), the person was helped thanks to another passenger who recognised what was going on and acted quickly—not because of any intervention from the crew.
If you can avoid Ryanair, do. I’ve no issue with trading comfort for a lower fare—but Ryanair doesn’t feel like a cheaper flight because they’ve cut costs. It feels like they’ve gone out of their way to invent new ways to make life miserable, just so they can charge you for relief.
I recently saw a lady try to make this point to them, only for the staff to keep repeating “but it sticks out”. In the end, the lady had to take the belt off her jacket and wrap it around the bag just to make the point. What a waste of time.
People who defend this airline “because it’s cheap” are just degrading themselves quite frankly. It’s awful and we shouldn’t be accepting of it.