Passengers jetting off this summer should be aware of a little-known Ryanair bag rule that could land them in trouble.
Airport workers checking luggage dimensions with the baggage sizers right before boarding – it’s a sight most travellers dread.
Ryanair allows passengers to bring a ‘personal bag’ for free, though it must fit strict size requirements.
Previously, the dimensions were 40x25x20cm but recently these have been increased to 40x30x20cm, in line with a change in EU law.
However, passengers will be charged a fee as high as £70 if their bags are too big.
But they may get caught out with a rule not many may know about the budget airline.
Ryanair has a no cash policy at boarding gates, which could cause issues for some travellers.
It means even if a passenger is prepared to pay the fee, unless they have card they may not be able to board with their bag.
A spokesperson for Ryanair told The Daily Mail: ‘Our bag policy is simple; if it fits in our bag sizer (which is bigger than our agreed dimensions) it gets on free of charge.
‘If it doesn’t fit in our bag sizer, you pay a gate bag fee. As our boarding gates are cashless, gate bag fees cannot be paid in cash.
‘These fees are paid by less than 0.1 per cent of passengers who don’t comply with our agreed bags rules.
‘For the 99.9 per cent of our passengers who comply with our rules we say thank you and keep flying as you have nothing to worry about.’
It comes as it was reported how Ryanair is paying staff bonuses to catch out passengers who try to sneak oversized cabin bags onto flights – and they can make up to €80 a month just from enforcing the strict rules.
A leaked payslip shows how one former employee earned a ‘gate bag bonus’ for flagging up bags that broke the airline’s famously tight size restrictions.
The ex-worker claimed they pocketed around €1.50 (£1.30) for every oversized bag they reported, according to The Sunday Times, although they said the monthly bonus was capped.
Ryanair, which made a staggering €13 billion in revenue last year, confirmed on Saturday that staff are financially rewarded for flagging bags that breach the rules – with passengers charged up to €75 for each oversized item caught at the gate.
But despite confirming the scheme, the airline refused to say exactly how much staff are paid as part of this ‘gate bag bonus’.
Meanwhile, Chelsea Dickenson, better known as @holidayexpert, has exclusively revealed to MailOnline Travel her top tips for packing a week’s holiday worth of clothes into a 40x20x25cm bag.
Another trick is to actually carry some of your luggage on you.
In the past, Chelsea says she’s taken the cushioning out of her travel pillow and stuffed some of her clothes in there, and she’s even gone as far as wearing a fishing vest, which she filled the pockets of.
