Ryanair and Rygge Airport - Carry-On + Duty Free bag permitted?

Rawr

Hello all,

I just wanted to bring up something that came to my attention last time I used Ryanair to travel between Ireland and Norway.

It seems that Rygge airport (aka 'Oslo' Rygge) in Norway are allowing passengers to take a Duty Free shopping bag through the gate in addition to the standard carry-on bag.
They even made the point of advertising this policy on a poster outside their Duty Free shop.

As many Ryanair users know, the airline enforces a strict One Bag Only policy when it comes to carry-on luggage, where Duty or Tax Free purchases must also fit into that luggage. I had expected this policy at Rygge too, and thus began my pre-flight ritual of playing Duty-Free Tetris with my one carry-on bag.

To my surprise, it turned out that my efforts were not needed at all. Instead of a member of cabin-crew checking us though the gate, we were received by a member of Airport staff. I watched in amazement while many of my fellow Ryanair passengers went though the gate, clearly carrying a carry-on and a Duty-Free bag. The poster was telling the truth. :eek:

It's been a very long time since I've seen that at any Ryanair gate. Thus, I have two questions, that I hope someone may be able to answer.

-First: Does anyone know why Rygge are able to do this? Is it due to Norwegian law, or were Rygge somehow savvy enough to make that part of their agreement with Ryanair.

-and Second: Has anyone ever heard of this happening at any other airport served by Ryanair. I know that Ryanair staff at Dublin certainly do not allow more than the Single carry-on bag.

Cookie_Monster

most of the smaller airports on the continent I've flown to with ryanair don't give a **** about the extra bag or the weight of your main bag...

BrianD

Most of the smaller airports really push for the extra bag for duty free. The Ryan Air deal is only worth money to them if they can get the retail sales.

trellheim

but very few RYR flights would have duty free, surely, as 99% are inside the EU ?

Rawr

trellheim wrote: »

but very few RYR flights would have duty free, surely, as 99% are inside the EU ?

Very true, although when I say Duty Free, I also include Tax Free ('Travel Value') in there. Although nowhere near as good a bargain as Duty Free, a saving can still be made, and thus I imagine the demand still exists.

Thanks for the replies Cookie and BrianD. I had a feeling that other airports were doing this as well. I did imagine that many Ryanair mini-airports (or Ryanairports as I call them) probably depended a bit on shopping revenue. Ryanair's baggage policy had made me less likely to purchase Duty / Tax Free while flying with them, and if I did it would be at a bare minimum (to allow for whatever space I had left in my bag). Rygge Airports' policy of insisting that a duty-free shopping bag is allowed in addition to my carry-on, would make me more likely to shop with them while departing from there.

I'm guessing that Rygge's operation policy has a lot to do with them being able to do this. Although small, they use their own staff to man the gates, which are people who obviously care more about their own policies than that of Ryanair. However, in other smaller airports the flight crews often come out to man the check-in.

I noticed this a Bremen, Germany; where the bag limitation was enforced there by the Ryanair flight staff.

Victor

Typically, how full are the flights? And how much luggage do people bring?

Does the airport doing the ground handling save Ryanair money in other ways, by reducing the number of staff they need?

Propellerhead

Bristol Airport has a notice up at the duty free shop stating that a duty free bag is specifically allowed on all planes in addition to a carry on bag.

However, Ryanair's ground crew insist on all carry on bags being squashed into their metal frame before they will let you go to the gate.

Rawr

Victor wrote: »

Typically, how full are the flights? And how much luggage do people bring?

Does the airport doing the ground handling save Ryanair money in other ways, by reducing the number of staff they need?

The flights I have seen where quite full. The last Ryanair departure I had from Rygge was completely full, and the Duty Free bags were brought nonetheless.

Typically, it seemed that most were bringing the Ryanair hand-baggage limit (a large-ish rucksack or small wheely bag.) and a normal Duty Free shopping bag in addition.

I'm not certain how much work Rygge do for Ryainair. All I could see them doing was manning the gate, and the baggage handling.