Ryan air small bag

[tooscaredandtired]

I’m travelling next week, the small hand luggage bag size is really small - 40x25x20

i have a back pack I use for work but it’s 40x40 - it isn’t that big and definitely fits under seat.

ryan air charge £75 each way if your bag is too big. I’m worried about taking it but also can’t believe it wil be big enough to draw attention.

Does anyone know how strict they are? I have a suitcase going in the hold so this is just for my laptop and hand luggage for the plan journey

Are you sure that your work backpack is 40x40cm? Not trying to tell you what you own, but it's just that that would be quite an unusual size and backpacks are generally rectangular in shape and 40x40 would really be quite big (and you mention that it isn't that big and you're sure it would fit under the seat). Just thinking that your existing backpack is probably perfectly fine and may have just been mis-measured?

Make sure you are comparing apples with apples. If you haven't flown with Ryanair for a few years then the rules may not be what you used to know. In particular, it depends on what you mean by "small hand luggage case" and "handbag", which may not be what some other people mean.

There are basically two sizes of cabin bag, "small suitcase with wheels" and "hand bag or small rucksack". The exact maximum dimensions of these vary by airline, but on Ryanair the former is 55x40x20 (44 litres) and the latter is 40x25x20 (20 litres). You can't mix and match on the sizes, so for example although 55x45x15 is smaller (37 litres) you can't take it on. I used to call the larger bag "a wheely cabin bag", but you can now get 20-litre wheely bags as well.

On Ryanair you get the "hand bag or small rucksack" (20 litres) for free. But you have to pay to take on the "small suitcase with wheels" (44 litres). You cannot take the "hand bag or small rucksack" and then also add a handbag. They do let you take a Duty Free bag, but they reserve the right to inspect it to see that it contains only Duty Free booze or cigarettes and not a handbag that you are trying to sneak on.

As you get to the gate there is a metal stand with spaces for the official maximum dimensions. Sometimes they check your bag(s) against this, sometimes they don't. The fact that they didn't check last time doesn't mean your oversized bag is magically OK now. You have to get your bag into the box with nothing at all overhanging the sides. If it's just bulging out by a centimetre, tough, it's going in the hold and you're paying £75.

People moan about the staff being too strict, but I fly Ryanair a lot and I have never had a problem with it. The rules are made crystal clear in a dozen pop-ups in the booking app and again in pre-flight e-mails. There are a lot of CFs trying it on and then making out like they are the victims of "arbitrariness", which is a bit like saying "I always drive down my 30-limit road at 40 and the police only stopped me today, it's so unfair".

It’s luck of the draw.

When I travelled Ryanair the last couple of times recently the turnaround was so tight for the staff there simply wasn’t time to check bag size and charge passengers.

I’ve also flown with them and they split the queue into those with priority boarding (granting an extra cabin bag) and everyone else - they walked down the everyone else queue and pulled out and checked everyone whose bags appeared too big and charged as appropriate.

Generally I think you can get away with squishable backpacks even if they technically measure too big, in my experience staff are far more concerned with mini suitcases and big duffle bags which clearly break the rules, but you can’t guarantee it. With regards to your extra cross body handbag I would wear it under your coat when boarding so it goes unseen.

Yes!

Flew to Dublin with them once, told my OH I’d rather swim back than get on a Ryanair plane ever again.

Ryanair is brilliant. I have never ever had a problem with them. If you observe their rules there's no issue at all. As for the planes being dirty, no I've never seen that either. A bit less than gleaming sometimes, but hey.

The person going down the aisle taking bags out from overhead was quite right. Those bags were for UNDER THE SEAT, and cheeky mares put them up there instead, thus blocking the wheelies from those who PAID FOR THEM to go up there.

It's all about entitlement really. Go by the rules, keep your gob shut, sit down and behave yourself and all will be well. Same goes for every bloody airline.

Now.... that's better, and I feel a bit calmer. I don't work for Ryanair or any affiliated company BTW.

I agree, I fly RyanAir regularly. It's fine, you get what you pay for and know what to expect.

They can be brusque sometimes when people ignore the repeated requests to put bags under seats but that because they're working to get the planes turned round quickly, which is one of the reasons they can keep fares low.

I personally haven't had problems with Ryanair. You can get a ticket for a wheelie bag and an underseat handbag, otherwise it's just the underseat bag. I bought my wheelie bag in Primark, bringing a tape measure in with me to double check the dimensions. Sometimes people genuinely take the piss with their luggage or there's a small-man-syndrome security guard who feels like being obnoxious that day. One made my friend basically wear all her clothes home even though her small rucksack squished into the checker box. On my last flight, I saw a lady in the queue who just had the handbag but who was wearing cargo pants and a jacket with about six pockets too, so I suppose that's an option for overflow 🤣