Ryanair’s New Baggage Policy to Take Effect on January 15

Ryanair’s new baggage policy will come into effect on January 15, and aims to encourage more customers to check in bags in order to reduce the volume of carry-on bags.

“We’re reminding our customers that from Monday (January 15), only Priority Boarding customers will be allowed to bring two carry-on bags on the aircraft. This will speed up the boarding of flights and eliminate flight delays, alongside our new checked bag policy, which offers our customers lower bag fees for a 33% increase in their checked bag allowance,” Ryanair chief marketing officer Kenny Jacobs said in an announcement.

As part of its “Always Getting Better” program, the low-cost carrier has introduced new reduced checked bag fees (and increased check-in bag sizes) to encourage more customers to check in bags and reduce the number of customers with two bags at the boarding gates. “As too many customers were availing of Ryanair’s improved two free carry-on bags service, and with high load factors (95 percent in December) there is not enough overhead cabin space for this volume of carry-on bags, which is causing boarding/flight delays,” the company said.

Ryanair’s bag policy changes on all flights as follows:

• The check-in bag allowance has increased from 15 kg to 20 kg for all bags
• The standard check-in bag fee has been cut from €/£35 to €/£25 for this 20 kg bag
• Only Priority Boarding customers (including Plus, Flexi Plus & Family Plus) will be allowed to bring two carry-on bags on the aircraft from January 15, 2018.
• All other (i.e. non-priority) customers will only be allowed to bring one smaller carry-on bag on board the aircraft, while their second (bigger) wheelie bag must be placed in the hold (free of charge) at the boarding gate from January 15, 2018.