Ryanair hand luggage, will my bag fit? The procedure?

DJDontaz

Hi, I'm travelling to the Netherlands this June and I'm trying not to ave to fork out the 50e charge for checking in a bag with Ryanair.

The current size allowed for hand luggage is 50cmx40cmx20cm ... I have a bag that is 52cmx35cmx28cm... Its a soft travel bag and I'll deffo get it under 10KG but do you think I will be able to bring it on without a problem?

I've never traveled with Ryanair before. Thanks.

aN.Droid

DJDontaz wrote: »

Hi, I'm travelling to the Netherlands this June and I'm trying not to ave to fork out the 50e charge for checking in a bag with Ryanair.

The current size allowed for hand luggage is 50cmx40cmx20cm ... I have a bag that is 52cmx35cmx28cm... Its a soft travel bag and I'll deffo get it under 10KG but do you think I will be able to bring it on without a problem?

I've never traveled with Ryanair before. Thanks.

They don't check every bag but if they check yours it will more then likely not fit in the cage they use to measure it and you will have to pay to put it on as checked luggage (50 euro afaik)

MOH

The 28cm could be a problem, depending how soft it is. If you can crush it down to 20cm if it's not too full, it might squeeze into the cage, but otherwise you'd risk being caught out if they check it.

JohnMearsheimer

Usually I would have said you would be ok but after my experiece with Ryanair on Thursday when I was travelling to London I'm not so sure. If you meet the wrong person when you're boarding they might make you check in the bag.

I had a shoulder bag and a piece of hand luggage with me. I was asked to put my luggage in the cage to see if it would fit, it did. Then I was asked to put my luggage on a scales, it came in at 6 kgs. Then she turned her attention to my shoulder bag and told me I could only take 1 piece of hand luggage on board and I'd have to put my luggage in the hold at a charge of €50. To solve that problem I put my shoulder bag into my luggage. The woman from Ryanair asked me to put it the cage again to see if it would fit again, it did. She then asked me to weigh the bag again, it came in at 10.7 kgs, 700 grams over the 10 kg limit. She told me I'd have to check it in for €50 because it was over the weight limit. I put some things in my coat pocket and the weight came down to 10.1 kgs. I couldn't believe it when she still insisted that I check the bag in for being over weight. I had another go at getting the weight down, took out a writing pad and envelope full of documents I needed, got the weight down to 9.9 kgs. She begrudgingly gave me the ok to take my bag on board.

What annoyed me about the whole thing was I still had 10.7 kgs on me boarding the plane. If I was way over the limit I'd say fair enough but that woman was completely inflexible. I get Ryanair are ruthless and make money doing things like that but there were loads of other people boarding the plane with a shoulder bag and hand luggage.

ProudDUB

JohnMearsheimer, Ryan Air staff get paid a bonus for every person they nab who has to pay the checked bag fee.

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2061349/Bounty-hunters-airport-Baggage-staff-50p-bonus-piece-Ryanair-hand-luggage-wont-fit.html

It's got nothing to do with you taking on the weight of all the items in your pockets or in your carry on bag. Common sense has nothing to do with it. It's all about the money. They can't stop everyone. The flight won't take off on time if they do. But they can and will stop people that they think they can make a few bob off. It is the luck of the draw really ( or smart packing on behalf of the passenger) if they think you will or won't. :rolleyes:

OP, if the bag is squishy at all, remove any large bulky items and wear them as you board. That may mean you can squish the bag into their measuring cage. To avoid detection while you are waiting to board, put your bag over your shoulder (if it has a strap) and use your arm & elbow to keep it hidden behind your back like a back pack, as opposed to it sitting on your hip. Switch the bag to a different arm than the one you will approach the cabin staff on. After you have passed him/her, let the bag swing in front of you, so that the size of it is front you, and not clearly visible as you walk away from her. Walk quickly. If she calls you back, pretend not to hear. She may not be bothered chasing after you if there are several more people between you and her.

When boarding the plane, take the bag off your shoulder and carry it at your side. Carry it in the hand that is on the opposite side of the plane that the member of staff is standing on to greet you. Don't keep it on your shoulder. You'll start knocking it against the wall of the plane if you do, and you don't want to draw the cabin staffs attention to the size of it. That is what I do, and I have snuck many an over sized bag onto a plane that I really shouldn't have.

JohnMearsheimer

ProudDUB wrote: »

JohnMearsheimer, Ryan Air staff get paid a bonus for every person they nab who has to pay the checked bag fee.

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2061349/Bounty-hunters-airport-Baggage-staff-50p-bonus-piece-Ryanair-hand-luggage-wont-fit.html

It's got nothing to do with you taking on the weight of all the items in your pockets or in your carry on bag. Common sense has nothing to do with it. It's all about the money. They can't stop everyone. The flight won't take off on time if they do. But they can and will stop people that they think they can make a few bob off. It is the luck of the draw really ( or smart packing on behalf of the passenger) if they think you will or won't. :rolleyes:

OP, if the bag is squishy at all, remove any large bulky items and wear them as you board. That may mean you can squish the bag into their measuring cage. To avoid detection while you are waiting to board, put your bag over your shoulder (if it has a strap) and use your arm & elbow to keep it hidden behind your back like a back pack, as opposed to it sitting on your hip. Switch the bag to a different arm than the one you will approach the cabin staff on. After you have passed him/her, let the bag swing in front of you, so that the size of it is front you, and not clearly visible as you walk away from her. Walk quickly. If she calls you back, pretend not to hear. She may not be bothered chasing after you if there are several more people between you and her.

When boarding the plane, take the bag off your shoulder and carry it at your side. Carry it in the hand that is on the opposite side of the plane that the member of staff is standing on to greet you. Don't keep it on your shoulder. You'll start knocking it against the wall of the plane if you do, and you don't want to draw the cabin staffs attention to the size of it. That is what I do, and I have snuck many an over sized bag onto a plane that I really shouldn't have.

Thanks for that link, it made for interesting reading, especially the comments at the end. A financial incentive is the only thing explaining why she was being so unreasonable, unreasonable from my perspective at least. She was pressurizing me to check my bag saying the plane was going to be late etc. She even objected to me carrying my writing pad and my envelope in my hands...I made a point about not seeing her confiscate newspapers from other passengers boarding the plane and she let it go.

I have flown with Ryanair many many times before and this was my first negative experience with them. Dealing with someone going out of their way to get money out of me wasn't a pleasant experience. Initially I was angry over it but after I felt satisfaction that she didn't get a penny out of me. Luck of the draw I guess.

mikedragon32

ProudDUB, if you're going to link an article the least you should do is describe it properly.

The article is about contracted ground handlers receiving a bonus from their employer, Servisair, and not Ryanair themselves. Servisair get their bonus for flights departing on schedule

While I think that their avarice in enforcing the rules is a bit unnecessary, I can't help but thinking, everytime I sit on an Aer Lingus flight watching folks fighting amongst themselves about putting their bags in the overhead bins and squashing others' bags as the scheduled push-back time passes by, that Ryanair have the right idea.

I can't remember the last time I was on a scheduled Aer Lingus flight that took off on-time and this is directly as a result of the time it takes to get everyone boarded. Ryanair's no-**** policy means flights generally go on time. Delays have rarely been the result of trying to fit everything into the overhead bins!

flikflak

Your bag is too big. If you want to take a chance then go for it but be prepared to pay at the gate if they make you check it in and dont make a fuss and hold up the other passengers.

On the other hand get a bag within the dimensions, pack it up to 10kgs, put it into the frame when they ask you to, pull bag out and proceed to plane. All simple and hassle free.

JohnMearsheimer

I flew back from London on Friday night with Aer Lingus. It was an extremely busy flight with the bank holiday weekend. When I went to check in, Aer Lingus told me I could check my bag in free of charge due to the pressure on the overhead bins with the flight being so full. I know Aer Lingus only did this to suit themselves but at least there was some forward thinking being shown, I wasn't charged and I wasn't really inconvenienced. My bag was already spinning around on the carousel when I reached it.

ProudDUB

mikedragon32 wrote: »

ProudDUB, if you're going to link an article the least you should do is describe it properly.

The article is about contracted ground handlers receiving a bonus from their employer, Servisair, and not Ryanair themselves. Servisair get their bonus for flights departing on schedule

While I think that their avarice in enforcing the rules is a bit unnecessary, I can't help but thinking, everytime I sit on an Aer Lingus flight watching folks fighting amongst themselves about putting their bags in the overhead bins and squashing others' bags as the scheduled push-back time passes by, that Ryanair have the right idea.

I can't remember the last time I was on a scheduled Aer Lingus flight that took off on-time and this is directly as a result of the time it takes to get everyone boarded. Ryanair's no-**** policy means flights generally go on time. Delays have rarely been the result of trying to fit everything into the overhead bins!

Fair enough so. My bad. It's been a while since I read the article. But whether it is a Ryanair employee or ServiceAir employee providing a service on behalf of Ryanair, the fact still remains that the person that the Ryanair passenger interacts with, has a financial incentive to stop passengers and make them check their bag for a fee.

No one has ever been held up on a flight that I have been on due to my bag. The bag that I "sneak on" is over sized in terms of dimensions, but only when it is fully packed. It never is. It can be squished in at both ends and on top to make it smaller. It generally takes up less space in the over head bin than the rigid hard shell Samsonite cases that Ryanair are flogging on their website. People can easily put something else along side my bag, or in front of it, due to the squishage factor. There is no doing that with a hard shell bag. They are inflexible and they takes up the same space, full or half empty. Mine doesn't.

My bag only looks bigger when it is on my shoulder waiting to board the flight. Hence my trickeries "smuggling" it on board. But I firmly believe that I am not being unduly selfish by taking it on board with me, due to my fellow passengers being able to fit more into the over head bin that it is in, than they would if I had a hard shell bag with me.

It is also much lighter than a hard shell suit case. I can toss it up into the over head bin very easily. There is no waiting for someone to assist me with it. My mother always has to get help getting her hard shell suit case up into the over head bin. That does cause a delay to those waiting to board behind her.

So while I do not feel a bit guilty about "sneaking" my bag into the cabin, I do accept the point that in encouraging others to do so too, I am possibly contributing to the creation of delays and hassles overall. :D:D

carbon nanotube

ProudDUB wrote: »

JohnMearsheimer, Ryan Air staff get paid a bonus for every person they nab who has to pay the checked bag fee.

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2061349/Bounty-hunters-airport-Baggage-staff-50p-bonus-piece-Ryanair-hand-luggage-wont-fit.html

It's got nothing to do with you taking on the weight of all the items in your pockets or in your carry on bag. Common sense has nothing to do with it. It's all about the money. They can't stop everyone. The flight won't take off on time if they do. But they can and will stop people that they think they can make a few bob off. It is the luck of the draw really ( or smart packing on behalf of the passenger) if they think you will or won't. :rolleyes:

OP, if the bag is squishy at all, remove any large bulky items and wear them as you board. That may mean you can squish the bag into their measuring cage. To avoid detection while you are waiting to board, put your bag over your shoulder (if it has a strap) and use your arm & elbow to keep it hidden behind your back like a back pack, as opposed to it sitting on your hip. Switch the bag to a different arm than the one you will approach the cabin staff on. After you have passed him/her, let the bag swing in front of you, so that the size of it is front you, and not clearly visible as you walk away from her. Walk quickly. If she calls you back, pretend not to hear. She may not be bothered chasing after you if there are several more people between you and her.

When boarding the plane, take the bag off your shoulder and carry it at your side. Carry it in the hand that is on the opposite side of the plane that the member of staff is standing on to greet you. Don't keep it on your shoulder. You'll start knocking it against the wall of the plane if you do, and you don't want to draw the cabin staffs attention to the size of it. That is what I do, and I have snuck many an over sized bag onto a plane that I really shouldn't have.

I was busted by ryainair last year i think, had a laptop bulging out of a laptop bag and managed to get onto the exit to the plane but was called back of course...:rolleyes:

had to check it in.

another time i had my suit in my hand, and hand luggage in other,,

"no can do"

had to check in suit..

screw that, i put the suit on, right in front of everyone and walked on.

got no time for this $hit with ryainair.




* well actually that did not happen but next time i will do it...!