Ryanair Cabin Baggage

[Xeque]

Anyone out there from Ryanair able to give me an answer to this.

Last night at checkin for FG9905 Newquay (NQY) to Stanstead (STN) I was told that I could not take my briefcase and my laptop computer togethet into the cabin. One or other had to go into the hold.

I have flown this flight 5 times in the past 14 months and have never had this problem before. I live overseas and travel internationally around 6 times a year. Again - no problem with a briefcase and a laptop as cabin baggage.

I know that Ryanair rules state that only one piece of cabin baggage is allowed but does that really include a businessman's briefcase?

Many businessmen carry a brief case as well as a laptop computer. I am one of them. Both are small and relatively light weight. The laptop goes in the overhead and the briefcase on the floor under my feet. No problem.

What happens to ladies with handbags? Does the fact that a lady may be carrying a hand bag preclude her from taking one other piece into the cabin?

I couldn't risk putting the laptop in the hold so I reluctantly surrendered my brief case complete with personal documents and other valuables.

I was not best pleased.

[Fool's Hole]

Ryanair have angered me in the past with their idiotic 7kg handbaggage rule. I can't remember the hold baggage allowance, but at the time I pointed out to the check in person that I am far from carrying my hold baggage allowance, so since my hand luggage is only 3kg more than the limit, why on earth can I not be given that credit for carrying it.
Needless to say they have no answer to that one.
I think they STINK.

[Tony_EM]

This is one area where some of the rules and policies make some sense.

The weight limit on hand luggage is as much for safety reasons as it is for storage and convenience issues. The main point here is that during extreme turbulence or even a 'survivable' accident, many injuries are caused by loose items of hand baggage flying arount the cabin. It's incredible how much kinetic energy a 10kg piece of handluggage can accumulate in a very small distance during a 2g 'bump'. I had a simple proposal for those passengers that wanted to take 20kg pieces of H/L; If they were happy with me throwing that item at their head, they could carry it on. Few said yes, but for those that did, I explained that I was just making a point and the safety of others would mean it would still HAVE to go in the hold.

Applying common sense was always the order of the day; if the flight was full, the piece and size limits were adhered to or the boarding would be seriously slowed as people fought to find storage for their items, often delaying a flight. When the flight was less than 3/4 full, some relaxation was allowed as long as the reason was relayed to the passenger. When business class seating was spread out (3/3 seating changed to 3/2 or 2/2 seating), the realtive increase in overhead bin space would allow us the let businessmen carry their briefcase, suit carrier and laptop in the cabin.

There would also be compassionate allowences for families with small children and special needs passengers.

This could be done because these were scheduled airlines with relatively good seat pitch and business class sections. However, when you are talking about a low cost carrier like RyanAir, where the cabin configs are high density but the overhead bin space is not; they must stick to the rules especially on full flights, or risk stupid delays because the cabin baggage cannot be accomodated safely.

You pays yer money, you gets yer choice. If you want some leeway on handluggage, fly a scheduled carrier that could facilitate such leniency. Low cost carriers just cannot do that in most cases.

[Tosh McCaber]

Having just returned from the States, travelling with AA, I was appalled at the size and weight of some of the pieces of luggage which were being stowed in the overhead lockers, both on the international and internal flights on which I travelled.

Your laptop and briefcase would pale into insignficance, when compared with what were virtually full sized suitcases and bags (multiple) which were carried into the cabin. In most airports, there were the empty metal cradles to show how much volume should be taken up by luggage (a good idea), but they might as well have not been there!

[Sean Dell]

Frankly if you are paying tuppence ha'penny for a flight what do you expect! The reason you can't take two items is that if everyone does it then Ryanair won't be able to fit 300 seats in their 737s.

(and before anyone corrects me - yes I know that 737s don't hold 300, well not yet anyway)

[unwiseowl]

And don't forget that excess hold baggage is an important source of revenue for the airline and comission for the check-in staff!

[dada]

fools hole - it's attitudes like yours that STINK. who do you think you are?

[brownstar]

Xeque

next time take a small nylon hold all to put both your laptop and your briefcase in. I suspect it was the fact that you had two seperate items and just happened to get someone at check in who had no room for discretion ( these people are checked regularly by spy passengers to see if they are complying with the regulations). if they had both been in the one bag then they would have complied with airport regulations on security.
I don't like to see this happen especially if you've not had a problem with it before.
There's no use in people bumping on about how there grandad managed to get on with a canoe whilst sporting a handbag and never got stopped!

hope you don't get caught out like this again!

[carbootking]

or do wot quiet a few people r doing now go to the nearest left luggage desk and dump it on them for 10 mins while ur checking in tell check in u have 1 bag then go collect your other 1 simple it seems to work.

[Tony_EM]

...except when the gate staff seee that you have deliberately lied.

Remember that the check-in staff are likely to be manning the gate later once checkin has closed. Some airlines make a point of noting the number of bags checked in and as hand baggage on your checkin record. We had a policy of charging excess for those that try and cheat the system. Either way, the gate staff have the same rules for items of hand baggage and will just take it off you there, where you then run the risk of it being left behind rather than re-opening the holds and delaying the flight if you try and turn up late at the gate.

I saw all the pax tricks in my time and grew weary of passengers who put their interests above those of the schedule of the flight at best, or safety of others at worst.

[ATC Watcher]

Problem is mainly that every airline sets its own hand baggage rules. I personally like the Lufhansa one : they say clearly on the ticket what you are allowed to bring in the cabin if you fly Y , C or F . and the max size the bag must be. RYR has also rules but they are hidden among the small print and are totally different from main carriers.

The canvas bag to put all items in and stay below 10Kg is the best advice I would give as it will work for most airlines all around the world.

[PAXboy]

My guess as to why hand baggage is restricted on RyanAir is not just that they have the problems of space mentioned above. They have a 15kg limit on hold baggage. If you carry 12kgs (if dense weight rather than bulky) then they can put it in the hold and charge you for it. But then, I always have had a dyspeptic view of FR.

The Americans have got into the habit of carrying on everything because of problems on multi-sector flights. Once hub and spoke routes were brought in, the carriers started losing bags and so pax started carrying them on.

Also, if they are taking sectors on different carriers, they do not want to waste time waiting for the first carrier to cough up the bag. If it does not arrive, they would have the problem of registering the loss and catching the next flight.

[slim_slag]

It sure is great in the States, 14 x 9 x 22 inch carry ons which cause no problem whatsoever. Ram them in the overhead bins and they don't move until you drag them out. United did a great thing when they changed the overhead bins to let you put them in lengthways.

It's the little bags of duty free whisky which fall out on people's heads in turbulence - and passengers who don't wear their seatbelts. They should be shot, together with people who try to get more than one 14 x 9 x 22 inch bag on and delay the departure.

Ryanair are just making money in their special little way.

[Fool's Hole]

dada

I may be paying your wages!!!

[Xeque]

Thank you all for your input.

For my part, if Ryanair want to enforce the rule then OK. I don't have to fly with them again. I probably won't now in any case since I do not wish to place myself in such an embarassing situation again.

The real point is that on 5 (not one but five!) previous occasions flying the same route and carrying exactly the same configuration of baggage (i.e Briefcase, Laptop and one small Hold piece) it was perfectly acceptable for me to take the laptop and my briefcase into the cabin.

Inconsistency breeds confusion and anger. ALL check-in staff should be working to the same set of rules and Ryanair should clarify the ruling with a definition of a handbag, be it for a lady or a businessman and it's relationship to a piece designated as carry-on baggage.

[Silver Tongued Cavalier]

According to my friend at Ryanair:

Ryanair rules for hold baggage are 15 kg per passenger, and excess baggage fees are €6 per kilo.

The check in staff member who takes in the highest excess baggage fees that day gets let off home around 45 mins early!

Sometimes, some members of O'Learys blue scrunchy army take in €800 a day in excess baggage, EACH! He has his ground staff for free!

Not to mention the monthly competitions between check in staff for the highest monthly excess baggage totals.

Yes heavy handbaggage IS dangerous, and a very valid safety regulation. How would you feel if you or your small child had a 15 kilo samsonite wheeler fall on their head!

Have noticed myself about the Americans bringing on everything into the cabin, particularly the backpackers going camping! Would have thought the land of lawsuits would have put a stop to this by now.

Did have one yank who started taking photos as photographic evidence after somone opened the overhead bin and his little son got face planted by someones massive wheeler!

[Boss Raptor]

This is a bug bear of mine..I travel regularly on both scheduled and charter carriers all of whom seem to have different hand baggage limits. None seem to detail their hand baggage requirement on the tickets and inevitably I ask my travel agent to phone the airline to check.

For example Virgin allows 5kg plus a laptop, I pack my laptop in my briefcase and am usually told by check in 'thats ok if they ask at boarding and its' a problem just take the laptop bag out and carry it separately' fair enough...other scheduled carriers are 7kg, UK charter carriers are generally 5kg...and so on...

Yet none of them actually seem to tell you on the ticket (particularly where your ticket is generic IATA stock issued by a travel agent and you dont have the particular airlines' wallet)

Airlines - pls do us all a favour print the baggage allowance on the bloody ticket (in the generic ticket stock 'fare calculation' or 'endorsements' section if necessary) which will save a whole lot of time and trouble at check in!

[bealine]

It has been said a few times already on the Forums - the low fares advertised by Ryanair, Easyjet etc are no more than very clever marketing hype!!! ".....There's no such thing as a free lunch!"

Excess baggage charges are very lucrative for MOL and his pals.

I agree with slim slag's notion that its duty-free bottles, coupled with pax' lack of discipline and self-control that leads to injury. However, no-one will ever convince me that the FAA permitting US carriers 18kg per single piece is safe! 18kg falling from an overhead can and will kill you and, although overhead lockers are strong, the catches on the doors are not!!! Anyone who has seen these monster US carry-on bags fly from an overhead would agree! The trolley-wheels, as individual pressure points, are absolutely lethal!

The deaths from the British Midland disaster at Kegworth (M1) were mostly caused by cabin baggage and cabin detritus - and British Midland only allows 6kg - the same as British Airways or most CAA controlled carriers. As BA ground staff, I will "turn Nelson's blind eye" to up to 9kg, but for the safety of other pax will ensure anything heavier is checked in. (The Club/First allowance of 18kg is in two separate bags, neither of which should exceed 9kg!)

"Good Customer Service involves the consideration of all the pax on an aircraft, not just the individual in front of you!" BEA Training Course 1967.

[atb1943]

I just returned from an FR-sponsored trip to the UK with my 16-year old son, both loaded with xmas presents. Although I consider myself pretty fair in what I drag on board, I do admit to trying to see what I can get away with, especially since it's good old Ryanair.

I recall that in the immediate aftermath of 9/11, Fr at STN were really nervous, requiring that normal medium size backpacks are checked, resulting in planeloads of people wandering round the shops begging for plastic bags in which to carry their delicate items. So I also try to have a cloth carrier bag with me in case.

This year I was not accosted for having two carryons, although I did squeeze the backpack into the top of the holdall when checking in. But there seemed little interest in our handluggage, just a peremptory query. We had a whole overhead to ourselves too, though the pack with the two bottles was duly stowed under my toes. (I once saw a hard briefcase slip down and wreck someone's shoulder).

On our return, although we had offloaded the presents, we were given even bulkier items to carry back, from dear but unthinking relatives. Add to that the thousands of teabags (for the whole office), and a large size wooden fokker dreidekker made locally (oh boy!). But again - no problem, even at usually sticky STN, We were even one of the early checkins for a change.

Which brings me to another item FR seems to have introduced, a sort of filter system to try and beat the rush to get a seat. The boarding cards are now numbered such that the early bird gets a low number and is then invited to board first (boarding cards 1 to 65 for example), after the families or infirm. Quite clever!

I notice too that FR has not yet had time to paint the ex-buzz 737s, which are running overall yellow. Oi tink dere's a blue tailed one too. But you're right, so what! Guess I'm still mourning the way a perfectly good (and for me convenient carrier) was killed off. And what was wrong with the Bournemouth route - it was so convenient, and almost always full = popular.

What I also notice is that seemingly few pax use the recline button, which MOL also seems to have noticed. I hear the next batch of McD Boeings will not have recliners (or is it the next batch of Recaros?).

And, for the first time in my experience, we had a go-around at 'busy' Hahn on New Year's eve! The only time the crew up front spoke to us was to explain that they were too high on the approach! Nothing like a bit of on-job training, eh! My son thought it most exciting. No browny points for the crew member flying - hope he didn't suffer for it.

Happy Landings all in 2004!

atb

[PAXboy]

atbWhich brings me to another item FR seems to have introduced, a sort of filter system to try and beat the rush to get a seat. The boarding cards are now numbered such that the early bird gets a low number and is then invited to board first (boarding cards 1 to 65 for example), after the families or infirm. Quite clever! I am sure that FR and MOL will be pleased to take credit for this new idea. So don't tell them that EZY started out this way. My guess is that someone else thought it up before then. :rolleyes:

[zed3]

uurm.....PAXboy , Southwest methinks.

[surely not]

As well as the danger of overweight cabin baggage falling from the overhead bins, there is a maximum that the structure holding the bins has been stressed to. Heaven knows what damage one of these would do if it fell down during turbulence or a 'heavy' landing.

No doubt in the law suit the passenger would claim 'but you allowed me to carry it on board therefore you are liable'!

Hand baggage is the most difficult aspect to police as check-in agents hardly ever see the hand baggage of the dedicated cheats. Yes, hand baggage counts towards your total baggage allowance, and it always has, even before the LoCos, but the main reason is passenger safety in times of extreme turbulence or in the worst case, an accident.

I have read that on the BA 737 which had an uncontained engine fire many years ago at MAn, one of the main reasons more pax didn't get out alive was because the under the seat hand baggage became strewn arond the cabin and pax fell over it only to be trampled by others panicking to get out.

So some of you think the airlines are being petty? No, we are trying to protect you from yourselves.

[Pax Vobiscum]

Can 'securely stowed under the seat in front' handbaggage 'escape' in this way? I suppose it might be possible on an aisle seat where there's (often?) no side restraint, but otherwise it has always seemed to me to be less likely to cause a problem (in these highly unfortunate circumstances) than stuff in the overheads.

I only ask because I'd like to know ...

[BEagle]

"Cabin Baggage:

Ryanair allows each passenger (excluding infants) to carry one small piece of hand baggage on board. The hand baggage must not weigh more than 7kg and be less than 50cm x 35cm x 23cm (20x14x9ins) in dimensions. For the safety and convenience of all passengers, hand baggage must fit underneath the seat or in the overhead compartment."

That seems entirely clear, reasonable and straightforward to me. So those people who inist upon trying to bring wheeled cabin trunks, mountaineer's rucksacks and the like into aeroplane cabins shouldn't be surprised when they're told they can't.

LH allows a very generous business class allowance. And a damn nuisance it is too, as every businessman seems intent upon bringing his entire wardrobe into the cabin in addition to an enormous attache case - as a result it takes ages to board.

Pre-Sep 11th, I used to carry a 'standard airline carry-on bag' with me; however, I discovered that buzz had an absurdly low cabin bag limit. So everything now goes into the hold, except for a briefcase which also hold my 1.8 kg laptop. Which is fine - until LH loses your suitcase at 2230 on the hottest night of the year....

People moan about Mo'L and Ryanair for many reasons; however, their Ts and Cs are clear and unequivocal. For that they deserve praise, not derision.

[flypastpastfast]

Said it before, and I'll say it again, EZY allow one briefcase and one laptop computer as hand baggage. As far as I understand this, the total combined weight may be over the limit, but only due to the extra weight of the laptop. That means, provided your briefcase is under the limit, you can take on board a laptop as well. It is in the small print, honest. I think they choose to not advertise this, as it may encourage idiots. Clearly a degree of common sense is required.

This was definitely the case around six months ago, but check yourself - if you ask the staff, you may be told no. On one occasion, I actually had to point to the small print on my paper receipt. Maybe it is on their website.

In many ways it makes sense, as the days are over where the average 'laptop' is a huge beast weighing 5kg. In addition, many travellers like this are travelling without any hold luggage at all.

A bit of sanity from easyjet?

On another point, I noticed the comment above regarding the fire at Manchester, and the fact that many people died due to a failure to evacuate. If I recall correctly, the main reason this failure to evacuate was attributed to was due to extra rows of seats which were placed at the wing exits. This led to the removal of said extra rows at overwing exits for many years, but have now returned in Easyjet and Ryanair and some other airlines. No doubt they will not be removed again until we have a similar catstrophe with a packed plane on the runway. The amount of space that is being left at wing exit rows is nothing short of criminal, especially on thos aircraft where the procedure is to remove the window inwards. I would happily pay an extra 10 quid to get the exit rows cleared again. No doubt we'll have to wait for a few deaths.

[bealine]

................EZY allow one briefcase and one laptop computer as hand baggage

So do (nearly) all airlines. That having been said, the "laptop" is precisely that - not these bloody great overnight bags with roller wheels with a little bit of room for said laptop advertised in Business Traveller as the "extra cabin bag the airlines allow!"!!!

Unfortunately, as soon as the airlines "give" a little bit, some pratt has to spoil things for everyone!

Anyhow, after the events of this week with the Washington aircraft, we may be back to almost zero cabin baggage before long!

http://www.maidenbower.org.uk/forums/viewtopic.php?t=1936