Ryanair blasted over Christmas
bags cost
 By Niamh Hennessy
Airline passengers were stung for massive baggage charges over Christmas
as Ryanair forced some travellers to pay up to five times the cost of
their flight for extra baggage weight.
Many passengers travelling from Britain to Ireland over the holiday season
were shocked at the price they were forced to pay for extra baggage following
a change in policy by Ryanair.
On booking a Ryanair flight passengers are told that they must pay extra
for checked-in baggage. They are also told that they can book an extra
bag at the airport when they arrive if they so wish.
What many passengers failed to realise over Christmas was that every passenger
is allowed just 15kg of checked-in baggage — even if they have three
or four bags.
For every kilogram over the allowance passengers must pay an extra £5.50.
Student John Ryan is one of the hundreds of people caught out by these
changes.
He said: “I was flying home for Christmas to be with my family and
I decided to buy my Christmas presents in Manchester where I’m a
student. That meant I had two extra bags but I thought I could pay £7
at the airport for these bags. That is what I was led to believe.
“But I couldn’t believe it when I went to the check-in desk
and was told I had to pay £120 extra. This was not made clear to
me at all when booking my flight.”
He added: “It was really annoying as I had booked my flight a few
months back to get the best deal possible but I ended up paying five times
the cost of the flight for two extra bags.”
Another passenger stung by the extra charges was Scott Buckley who flew
from London to Cork on St. Stephen’s Day.
He said: “Originally I’d allowed for just the one suitcase
but when it came time to pack I soon realised that with all the presents
I was taking I’d need another bag.
“I checked my e-mail before leaving work on the 22nd and saw one
from Ryanair which had been sent out to give passengers information during
the Christmas travel period and it mentioned that I could simply pay £7
per item of baggage on the day of the flight.
“I arrived at the check-in desk with plenty of time to spare and
I informed them that I’d bought an additional item of luggage and
was told that it wasn’t a problem and to put both cases on the conveyor
whilst I was booked in. I was then told that I’d be required to
pay not only for an extra bag but also excess weight of £5.50 per
kilo as I was only allowed 15kg in total irrespective of how many bags
I paid to take with me.
“The total of an extra bag actually came to £89.50. I was
told by the girl at the excess baggage counter that lots of people had
been caught out by this and all no doubt had the same dilemma as myself.
Not a good start to the holidays for any of us.”
Nadine and Eugene Loy who travelled from Dublin to London along with their
two children had similar misfortune — and one which cost them £180.
Nadine said: “We had four bags with us — one each. Mine and
my husband’s bags weighed over the 15kg but the children’s
hardly weighed anything. But despite our argument that all four bags weighed
under the total allowance of 60kg for the four of us travelling, they
wouldn’t allow it.
“We were on our way to the Dominican Republic on holiday and after
all the money we had forked out between that and Christmas I felt like
crying. They just don’t know when to draw the line. It’s a
disgrace.”
According to Ryanair this is normal procedure and every passenger is allowed
just 10kg hand luggage and 15kgs check-in luggage.
A Ryanair spokesman said: “This is standard procedure for us. We
cannot tell you how much we took in for extra baggage over Christmas as
we don’t have those figures but there are no exceptions made and
everybody is subject to the extra charges.”
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