There’s nothing worse than thinking you’ve bagged yourself a cheap flight and then being hit with loads of unexpected fees.
Budget airlines charge you for extras like cabin bags, hold bags, and seat allocation – and things just got even more expensive.
Ryanair has made a big change to its prices, and it’s bad news for customers who need to bring a large cabin bag on board.
Customers are required to pay a fee for priority boarding if they wish to bring a 10kg suitcase onboard with them, rather than settle for the free small personal bag included with tickets, which can only measure 40x20x25cm.
The cost to upgrade to priority boarding previously ranged from £6 to £36 online or, if you upgraded at the airport it was £20 to £38.
However, this has recently changed and on Ryanair’s website and it now stipulates that the airline will charge between £20 and £60 for priority boarding, if you pay for it at the airport or at a later date after making your booking online.
As you can imagine, customers are not impressed with the new fees, with some branding the change ‘a rip off’.
@micha4768 branded the charges ‘disgusting’, saying: ‘OMG @Ryanair 40 quid for a 10Kg Hold Bag absolutely disgusting price wouldn’t have been so bad for a 22kg hold But that is DISGUSTING.’
While @land_stuart claimed checking a bag could now cost more than the actual flight, writing: ‘Ryanair make me laugh. Going [to] Nice for 5 days in October withy best mate. Return flights were 55 quid, thought good price. To add my bag just to the cabin was 66 quid, how does my bag cost more than the flights.’
Ryanair said in a statement to NorthWalesLive that the fee for priority depends on the route and travel dates.
‘Non-priority customers who have not added a bag to their booking can still purchase a 10kg Check-in bag at the airport bag drop desk for €/£ 35.99. Non-priority customers who bring their 10kg Check-in bag to the boarding gate may check it in against payment of a fee of €/£ 46.00 – €/£ 60.00,’ a spokesperson said.
‘This is to align with the gate bag fee if passengers choose to bring their 10kg to the boarding gate and want to carry it on board, then they are subject to a gate fee.’
While this news isn’t ideal, it comes after the airline’s chief executive, Michael O’Leary revealed that he would review their stance on package holidays, once Ryanair has established as much growth as possible from expanding its fleet of Boeing aircraft.
This admission came back in September but don’t get too excited just yet because the airline needs to ensure it will actually be a profitable venture.
In other news, Ryanair also proposed a two-drink limit at airports to stop the spate of disruptive behaviour on flights that can result in emergency landings or diversions, especially to destinations like Ibiza.
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