To have not known this about Ryanair?

[eastandwestand]

So, we’ve not flown for around 5 years.
Instead we’ve done ferries, a couple of cruises and U.K. holidays.
Booked our flights with Ryanair and booked 2 bags which could each contain 20kg.
Weighed them the night before. 1 bag was 20kg and 1 bag was 22kg. So 2kg over.
Spoke to a few people who said the person checking the bags usually turns a blind eye with a couple of kg extra weight. In fact I’ve never been charged for excess luggage, even when my bag was 29kg instead of 25kg EasyJet just stuck a “heavy” label on it.
Anyway, got to the airport and it’s self check in.
You weigh your own baggage and before the machine prints you a luggage label you have to pay on the card machine attached to the scales for any KG you are over.
So you can’t physically board a flight until you have paid £11 per kilo for anything over.
I paid obviously, as my case was over, but I never realised this check in system even existed!
Has it been around for long? Or am just not an airport pro these days?

Airlines are one of the areas where it is just best to blindly follow the rules to the letter no matter how ridiculous they seem. If I’m allowed 20 kg I try to aim for 19, then there’s a bit of leeway. All information is readily available online and when I’ve travelled with Ryanair they are constantly reminding you by email to check in etc so it’s hard to forget.
I’ve travelled with Ryanair and have to say that I’ve never (touch wood) had any problem. Disembarking and collecting hold luggage is generally pretty efficient, as they want you gone so they can turn the plane round.
Mind you, my idea of good service from an airline is not crashing, so maybe I’m setting the bar a bit low

Yes, you will be charged for excess luggage.

You had 40kg of checked luggage allowance + hold bags allowance.

Do you really need so much stuff?

I recently spent 4 weeks in the US & travelled on 23kg of hold luggage.

Last week 4 of us travelled to France and had a 20kg Ryan Air baggage allowance (it actually weighed 15kg) for 4 people for the week.

My advice - pack smarter and you won’t be fleeced.

I am completely paranoid about getting to the airport and our luggage being over, so I make DH weigh, weigh, and then weigh again before we leave.

I check in online but we never use the self-drop desks at the airport, I still go to the manned desk to have our luggage labelled and put through. At Gatwick in June, the queue for the self-drop was miles longer than the manned desks and we got dealt with very quickly. It was going through security that took the time. There was a young couple at the security point that we were at virtually unpacking their hand luggage as they obviously hadn't read all the signs about the plastic bag and the toiletry limits...

Mumsnet competitive undereating gives way to competitive underpacking.

Yes there are 5 of us including a toddler and we managed with one 20kg checked bag, one 10kg cabin bag between us and a day pack/ small hold-all each and we took towels and sheets! There’s a laundrette here and it’s boiling so wearing v light clothes. I can’t see how people need to take so much stuff either.

Good timing with BadLad! Am I a contender??

Easy answer to this - weigh the light one twice and then don’t weigh the heavy one at all. You get two labels. Job done.

You're among the early leaders, but someone will have trekked across the Hindu Kush with four toddlers and only packed a pencil case of clothes.

Last year's version was people who are a while boiled egg once, and then couldn't move for a week.

😂

YABU. Why on earth didn't you just take out 2kg of stuff into your hand luggage or carry on bag?

Single parent of two here.
One suitcase as neither old enough to carry a suitcase. So I squeeze everything in to one. It’s tight, very tight.
Cabin luggage books, toys and snacks.

If you have a different way for single parents of young children - please tell me

Well I can’t see how wrangling cabin bags plus children is any easier than taking an extra suitcase and dumping it at the bag drop for one thing, then you’d only need a small bag for a couple of toys and the ubiquitous ‘snacks’ so yourself

It's for safety for the staff, back injuries and terrible

I fly a few times yearly and I'm very careful to abide by all the airlines rules. They're there for a reason

Ryanair would take the shirt off your back if they could profit from it! I’ve found that their staff don’t know all their arcane rules and / or interpret them differently. I could write a book about all the ways I’ve been told to carry a booster seat (take it on the plane and make the child sit on it, take it on the plane and don’t sit on it, carry it to the plane and leave it on the tarmac, check it in as luggage but for free etc, etc). I’ve also seen some pretty awful examples of various rules being applied against totally confused passengers in quite awful ways. With Ryanair don’t expect any leniency in terms of bag size, weight, number, departure time, or anything else you might not have understood or noticed in the t+c’s. Once you accept that, they’re generally fairly reliable ( apart from when they ran out of pilot hours!).

It’s at least 11 years since they started that policy

A couple of years at least. TUI do it this was aswell.

I think its depend on which airport. I flew yesterday, there was no self weigh in of bags. I did online check in though and at the arrival at the airport I went to bag drop off. They weight the bag and put label on in.

Call me dishonest/stupid but if it's self regulated, why can't you take out 2 kg of clothing, weigh it and then put the offending items back in the case??

Years ago We were in the Q for boarding a ryan air flight when a child standing close by tooth fell out -the air hostess checking passes "joked" that they had better hurry up and put the tooth away or they would charge them for extra hand luggage 😂😂

I flew with Ryanair two days ago. I had been meticulous about measuring our hand luggage because I know how strict they can be. As such, the three of us took the tiniest of bags onboard. As I watched people in the queue, I saw many walk through with bags double the specified dimensions and they got away with it! I wouldn't take the risk anyway, but I did feel a bit hard done by.

Ryanair’s rules are definitely there for a reason - to maximise their profits.

I flew with Ryanair two days ago. I had been meticulous about measuring our hand luggage because I know how strict they can be. As such, the three of us took the tiniest of bags onboard. As I watched people in the queue, I saw many walk through with bags double the specified dimensions and they got away with it! I wouldn't take the risk anyway, but I did feel a bit hard done by.

There are 2 sizes. 1 under the seat which comes with normal ticket and bigger one for overhead which can be bought as extra.

I don't call it priority anymore. It stops being priority when there is more people than in a normal queue

It's a limit not a target. I don't know how people manage to pack so much, I've emigrated well under the weight limit, let alone travelling for a holiday.

I was pleasantly surprised by how efficient Ryanair were. On time and even early on return flight.
And I wasn’t particularly bothered about paying for the 2kg extra. I always knew it was a possibility, but was just surprised at the self check in scales with card machines attached to them when previously the human check in desks would let you go 1kg over on each case without batting an eyelid!
I juggled luggage much better for the return flight! Plus we had used our mountain of nappies, wipes and sun cream by the time we came home!
I’ll know for next time that they are much stricter than 5 years ago!
Funnily enough on the way home there wasn’t a self weigh in/check in. Was all human check in desks.

Ryanair doesn't allow two of you to pool luggage either, as some other airlines do when flying together. You pays your money and you takes your choice, but I acquired a reasonably accurate weighing device for a fiver to avoid just such eventualities when travelling back.