Ryanair now has a hand luggage measuring tool on its mobile app to help passengers understand its carry on baggage charges. The new function scans the bag you want to take and tells you if it is small enough to fit under the seat in front or if you’ll have to pay. Ryanair changed its bag policy in 2018, limiting the amount passengers could bring on board for free. According to the Ryanair website: “All passengers are entitled to bring one small personal bag on board [which] must fit under the seat in front of you (40cm x 20cm x 25cm). Examples include a handbag, laptop bag and small backpack.”
The new Bag Sizer tool can be found on the home page of the Ryanair mobile app.
It explains that you’ll need to place the bag you want to measure on a flat surface and tap the grid to continue.
You’ll then need to scan the bag by moving the camera slowly around the front, side, top and back of your bag.
The function will then tell you whether you will have to pay to carry it on with you or not.
However, in the small print, Ryanair disclaims that the “technology is not 100 per cent accurate so it is your responsibility to size the bags at the airport.”
The disclaimers also add: “We can only scan the parts of the bag we can see. The final size measure may or may not be the actual size.”
Since Ryanair limited their hand luggage allowance, the overall volume permitted for free has dropped by almost two-thirds from 58 litres to 20 litres.
If travellers want to bring more luggage they will need to pay for priority boarding. or purchase a plus, flexi or family ticket.
“Passengers who have purchased “Priority & 2 Cabin Bags” or Plus/Flexi/Family ticket or connecting flight ticket can bring one additional 10kg bag on board,” states the Ryanair website.
This “must fit into the baggage sizer (not exceeding 10kg and dimensions 55cm x 40cm x 20cm).”
Rival low-cost airline easyJet released a new hand luggage app for customers to measure their bag back in February 2019.
The technology offers 3D augmented reality and shows if the baggage will fit the cabin bag dimensions correctly.
easyjet currently allows passengers to bring one cabin bag per person on board, with aircraft only allowing for 70 cabin bags in total.
Airline representatives will check the size of cabin bags before a passenger boards the plane.
The maximum size allowance is 56x45x25cm (including handles and wheels). They should be able to fit comfortably into the plane’s overhead lockers, or under the seat in front.
If they are bigger than the maximum size, they will be checked into the hold for an additional charge.
