AS THE boarding gate official called me forward and I placed my cabin bag in the measuring rack, I felt confident this check was merely a formality. I was flying from Leeds Bradford Airport to Limoges in France with Ryanair for a three-night break and had bought a new carry-on case for the occasion. But my holiday mood vanished when the uniformed man informed me it was too big at the front – and I had to pay £70 to proceed.
This was nearly two-thirds of the cost of my £111.11 return ticket, which included paying extra priority boarding with two pieces of luggage – one small under seat bag and one 10kg cabin bag. My crime ? My new IT Luggage case, bought in Tesco for £37, was 55cm x 36cm x 21.
5cm. It would pass the test with competitors easyJet and Wizz Air , who allow 56cm x 45cm x 25cm and 55cm x 40cm x 23cm for overhead bags. But not with Ryanair , the most stringent airline at 55cm x 40cm x 20cm, meaning mine was just 1.
5cm too deep to comply. Budget airlines Ryanair, easyJet, Vueling and Volotea were fined £128m by Spanish authorities last month for charging for carry-on bags, with the country’s Consumer Rights Ministry branding the policy "abusive". But passengers bagging a bargain flight this summer may not realise there’s an additional costly penalty if this luggage does not conform to the strict dimensions that airlines demand.
For Ryanair passengers, the penalty is £70, while easyJet make you fork out their standard airport bag fee of £48 and WizzAir al.