A Ryanair passenger took to social media to complain about having to pay to take his luggage on the plane twice – but other users have said his bag was obviously too big
A Ryanair passenger has ignited a row with the airline after sharing his fury about being forced to shell out £75 to take his bag on the plane – despite already paying for the luggage to go on board.
In a furious rant on X (formerly known as Twitter), user @JeffreyPeel posted a picture of his suitcase in the contraption that measures whether baggage is the right size – and claimed that his bag definitely fit.
However, his post garnered a mixed response with some other users claiming the bag was obviously too big. Ryanair’s bag policy allows passengers to bring one small bag onboard for free which must fit under the seat in front of them.
Passengers can pay for Ryanair’s Priority Boarding, as the X user did, which lets them board first and bring an extra 10kg cabin bag, plus a small personal item.
This 10kg bag must fit into the overhead locker and needs to be within the 55 x 40 x 20cm size requirements.
In a post that has been viewed a staggering five million times, @JeffreyPeel wrote: “So @Ryanair your agent in BelfastInternational airport is refusing to allow me to fly to Malaga (without additional charge) with this bag even though I’ve already paid for it and priority boarding.”
He added: “I have now submitted a complaint to Ryanair. When I finally boarded the flight last night – after paying the £75 fine’ – I received a round of applause from my fellow passengers.
“However the experience was truly appalling. The fact that a Swissport check-in agent in a Grinch sweater could deliberately cause such mayhem, delay the boarding of the already delayed flight, call for police intervention and require my wife and I to wait right to the end of the boarding process under police supervision is reprehensible.
“And, so far, despite over 50,000 views of this post, not a single word of response from Ryanair.”
Many commenters pointed out the handle of his suitcase is slightly over the size limit in the gauge.
One user said: “Why should Ryanair respond? The bag is clearly too big. You won’t be getting a refund and you should count yourself lucky you were able to fly and that Ryanair aren’t pressing charges against you for the delayed flight.”
Another added: “Jeffery, I have often taken chances with Ryanair but your bag is pretty obviously bigger than allowed dimensions – just get over it – you took a chance and lost.”
A Ryanair spokesperson said: “This passenger booked a Regular Fare ticket for this flight from Belfast to Malaga (8 Dec), which allowed them to carry a small personal bag and a 10kg cabin bag onboard.
“As this passenger’s bag exceeded the permitted size, they were correctly required to pay a standard gate baggage fee (£75) by the gate agent at Belfast Airport.”
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