Ryanair reduces hand luggage allowance on flights

Ryanair has cut the hand luggage allowance from two to one bag on flights - unless you've paid £5 for priority boarding.

Passengers without priority boarding will have to put their second bag in the hold free of charge at the gate, and pick it up from the baggage carousel after the flight.

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Ryanair is also cutting fees from £35 to £25 for bigger checked bags to encourage customers to check in more luggage. The check-in bag allowance will also increase from 15kg to 20kg.

The changes have been made in a bid to ease delays, after too many customers take two hand luggage bags on board, says the airline.

According to the BBC, Ryanair said it had been a "victim" of its own "niceness" after allowing customers to take a second carry-on bag for free.

But the policy, it said, had been abused with people taking on bags up to three times the permissible size - leading to delays.

According to the Independent, since the airline relaxed its cabin baggage policy in 2014, allowing passengers to bring two bags, the "load factor" has increased from 82 to 97 per cent - meaning there are around 25 more cabin bags to be fitted in.

This luggage squeeze is delaying flights, and affecting the swift turn-arounds of flights.

The new policies will begin from the start of November.

According to the BBC, Ryanair's chief marketing officer, Kenny Jacobs, said it was not a money-making exercise, explaining: "These bag policy changes will cost Ryanair over 50m euros (£46m) per annum in reduced checked bag fees.

"However, we believe offering bigger bags at reduced fees will encourage more customers to consider checking-in a bag, which will reduce the high volume of customers we have with two carry-on bags at the boarding gates."