Ryanair introduces new baggage policy

Passengers on Ryanair flights will no longer be able to take large cabin bags on board - unless they have spent €5 on priority boarding.

Until now, the budget airline has allowed passengers to take one bag, such as a backpack or shopping bag, along with an additional small bag into the cabin.

The airline said that it had changed its baggage rules because the number of passengers taking multiple bags into aircraft cabins had led to flights being delayed due to slow boarding.

In a statement, it said, "too many customers [were] availing of Ryanair’s two free carry-on bags service, and with high load factors, there is not enough overhead cabin space for this volume of carry-on bags".

Passengers without priority boarding, Flexi Plus or Family Plus tickets, will now have to check-in their larger cabin bags at the boarding gate, for no charge.

The change in policy for allowed cabin baggage coincides with an increase in weight limit for check-in bags from 15kg to 20kg, which the airline believes will, "encourage more customers to check in bags and reduce the number of customers with two bags at the boarding gates".

The check-in fee has been reduced from €35 to €25 for a 20kg bag.