Ryanair CEO Michael O’Leary has also said Ryanair and a group of airlines including International Airlines Group, Air France–KLM, easyJet and Lufthansa back standardisation of hang luggage size rules
Ryanair’s boss has told the Mirror that the airline does not want to make money from customers when charging them for hand luggage.
Currently, passengers can bring one small bag such as a handbag, backpack or laptop bag onboard for free, measuring no more than 40x20x25cm. If they want a second bag, they will need to pay for priority booking, or opt for a separate 10kg check-in bag option.
However Michael O’Leary claimed that the fees for a second bag were not designed to make the budget airline cash. Instead it is in place to stop customers from bringing bags in the first place, the CEO claimed.
Mr O’Leary made the comments when asked if he was confident Ryanair could continue to charge for hand luggage following 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’.
He told the Mirror: “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.”
Ryanair has become notorious for slapping customers with fines for a multitude of aviation sins, including having hand luggage too large to fit in the sizers or forgetting to check-in online two hours or more before departure.
The airline boss went on to call for the standardisation of hand luggage size rules across Europe, claiming that an airline organisation representing International Airlines Group, Air France–KLM, easyJet, Lufthansa and Ryanair backed such a move.
“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?” Mr O’Leary continued. “We as an industry need to have much clearer guidelines, passengers get confused. We should all have the same sizes.”
When asked whether Ryanair had any plans to increase fees this year, he said: “No, none.” Mr O’Leary also went on to predict yet another summer of disruption at UK airports this year, following post-lockdown issues in 2022 and 2023.
Asked if customers could expect more of the same, the CEO said: “l think so. I think the airports will be better, the experience will be better, there will be slightly less capacity in Europe because of the Airbus groundings, but I think UK National Air Traffic Control and French Air Traffic Control will continue to be the big bugbear.”
Last autumn, in a fiery rant, Mr O’Leary urged Transport Secretary Mark Harper to sack Martin Rolfe, who is head of NATS. He said the aviation chief should “stand down” or “even better, be fired”, and argued that the government-owned firm has become a “shambles” while also accusing the board of NATS of being ‘incompetent’.
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