Ryanair chief Michael O’Leary has said the airline does not want to make money from travellers when charging them for hand luggage. As it stands, passengers can bring one small bag onboard for free, such as a handbag, backpack or laptop bag that measures no more than 40x20x25cm.
However if they wish to bring a second bag onboard, they will need to pay for priority booking, or opt for a separate 10kg check-in bag.
But speaking to The Mirror, Mr O’Leary claims the fees for a second bag were not designed to make Ryanair money. Instead, he claims, it is in place to stop customers from bringing bags in the first place.
Read more: You could face a £1,000 fine if you don’t do simple thing to your car before driving in the snow
Get breaking news on BirminghamLive WhatsApp. Join our dedicated community to get the latest updates.
He made the comments when asked if he was confident Ryanair could continue to charge for hand luggage after a ruling this week in which a Spanish court decided the airline had a right to do so, despite claims the fees were ‘abusive and void’.
Speaking to The Mirror, the CEO said: “Yes [I am confident]. There is a safety issue involved in hand luggage here.
“We don’t charge for hand luggage because we want your money, we charge for hand luggage so you will travel with less luggage.”
The airline boss has also called for the standardisation of hand luggage size rules across Europe, claiming an airline organisation representing International Airlines Group, Air France–KLM, easyJet, Lufthansa and Ryanair backed such a move.
Mr O’Leary continued: “All the airlines under the A4E group in Europe have said they’ll come together and decide sizes of carry on luggage. None of the airports can handle all the bags people want to bring on. What should be the dimension or weight for check in bags?
“We as an industry need to have much clearer guidelines, passengers get confused. We should all have the same sizes.”
Mr O’Leary did say however that Ryanair had no plans to increase fees this year.
