Ryanair's new cabin baggage rules come into force today
From today, Ryanair passengers will only be allowed bring wheelie luggage into the cabin if they’ve paid for priority boarding.
The airline says it’s to reduce airport delays and customers will still be allowed check the luggage into the hold for free.
Spokesperson Kenny Jacobs has this advice for those travelling: "If you have checked in a bag that is absolutely fine, if you’ve got a wheelie bag and a small bag with you and you have not booked priority boarding, I would suggest you could just go to the gate and the bigger wheelie bag will be taken from you at the gate. It will be tagged and put in the hold."
"If you are particular about having your bag with you in the cabin, you will be able to purchase priority boarding."
According to Mr Jacobs, the restrictions are being introduced to reduce delays at airport gates.
"Everybody will continue to get two free bags, that continues for all customers," Mr Jacobs explains.
"Non-priority customers can bring two bags but they will be now required to put their wheelie bag - their bigger bag - in the hold, free of charge, at the boarding gate."
Our new baggage policy is commencing on Monday January 15th. Don't forget to familiarise yourself here. pic.twitter.com/deTjCEBYvX
— Ryanair (@Ryanair) January 9, 2018
Meanwhile, Ryanair has said that it will not tolerate unruly or disruptive behaviour on its flights.
It comes after a Ryanair flight from Spain to Dublin had to make an unscheduled stop in Santander last week after two Irish passengers became disruptive on board.
They were escorted from the plane by the Civil Guard and Ryanair says it’s now a matter for local police.
Mr Jacobs says they’ve been calling for over a year for stricter restrictions on the sale of alcohol at airports.
"We’re saying that no one should be allowed to purchase more than two drinks at the airport," he said.
"We are also saying that there should be no alcohol sold before 10 in the morning.
"This is something that becomes a problem that the airlines have to fix. That flight diverted from Alicante to Santander rather than going on to Dublin.
"That was disruptive for all the other customers on board, it is a cost for the airline and it is something that needs to be stopped and the easiest thing to do to stop it is at the airport and controlling the amount of alcohol sold there."
