Ryanair is set to cease the allowance of a second free carry-on bag, citing abuse of the policy by certain customers as the reason for the decision.
As reported by The Irish Independent, any non-priority passengers carrying a second piece of hand luggage that weighs in excess of 10kg will be required to check it in at the boarding gate from 1 November.
While non-priority customers will still be permitted to bring items such as laptops and handbags aboard, anyone wishing to bring a bigger second bag into the cabin will have to pay the €5 per flight priority boarding fee. Ryanair noted that there is no charge for checking in 10kg bags should customers not wish to pay for priority boarding. However, there will be a €10 supplement levied on such items of luggage at Easter, Christmas and on longer routes during the summer.
The airline asserts that the change in policy is due to too many customers taking advantage of the two bag allowance by attempting to board flights with second bags that exceed the 10kg limit. Refusal to comply with staff if requested to check in a second item of hand luggage will result in exclusion from travel without refund.
Passengers journeying with infants will still be allowed to bring a baby bag weighing up to 5kg.
The announcement of the new hand luggage policy arrives on the same day as the release of Ryanair's traffic statistics for August, which reveal the airline's passenger numbers rose 10% to 12.7 million, while load factor increased 1% to 97% and rolling annual traffic to July grew 13% to 126.2 million customers.
Ryanair chief marketing officer Kenny Jacobs attributed the above statistics to "lower fares and the continuing success of our 'Always Getting Better' customer experience programme."
