Ryanair make changes to baggage, including a grace period

Ryanair are having a hard time of things when it comes to their baggage policies. Earlier in the year, the policy was changed to cope with the amount of bags being brought on board.

This proved unsuccessful so a new policy commenced on 1 November 2018. Pleasingly, the airline is allowing a grace period to account for those who may not be aware of the changes.

The Old Policy Resulted In Flight Delays

In early 2018, new rules came into force where people were required to purchase Priority Boarding to get their standard 10 kilogram cabin bag plus one laptop bag into the cabin. People without this would have their larger bag checked at the gate.

Passengers like to save money and according to reports in the Irish media, up to 120 cabin bags were being gate checked per flight. This caused delays which are never good.

The New Policy And Grace Period

Everyone is allowed to bring a laptop bag or small backpack on board for free, as these fit under the seat in front. Priority Boarding costs £/€6 and it includes the ability to bring a 10 kilogram cabin bag into the aircraft. This fee increases to £/€8 if added after booking. You can also add this up to 30 minutes before departure.

Anyone else will no longer have their cabin bag checked free. Cabin bags will cost £/€8 to be checked into the hold and will need to be dropped at the bag drop desks before security. This fee also increases, to £/€10 if added after booking.

As a further incentive to ensure you sort this out before arriving at the airport, the fees escalate. It will cost £/€20 if you need to add this at a bag drop desk and if you make it to the boarding gate and need to gate check the bag, it will be £/€25.

Happily for all, Ryanair has decided on a grace period to educate customers on the new policy. This is currently running throughout November and will save a lot of angst for both the staff and passengers.

Overall Thoughts

It makes sense for Ryanair to stop so many bags being checked at the gate. Passengers should find it easier to do the bag drop at check-in, as the airport security experience is much nicer when you don’t have much to carry.

Having a grace period is definitely the way to go, because nobody needs to be penalised for a rule change. Introducing it during a quiet month is also smart.

What do you think of these changes at Ryanair? Thank you for reading and if you have any comments or questions, please leave them below.

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All images via Ryanair.