Ryanair - "dodgy" scales in Spain

Hauptmann · 4 June 2009 at 2:36PM

I'm a long-time lurker on these forums by have finally been prompted to register and post due a recent problem with Ryanair.
I don't want to give too many exact details away in case I decided to take legal action (if indeed I can) but this is the gist of it.

I travel quite a few times each year with Ryanair, as well as other airlines. I know they are strict with carry on baggage so I have a case (as does my wife) which is just within the carry-on max size. I also have a little electronic weighing device called a Jinger, which I use to weight the packed cases to make sure they are under the 10kg limit.

On a recent Ryanair flight back from Spain there was a man standing by the boarding queue and every now and then he would ask a passenger to put their bag into a blue cage, to check for size. He asked me to put mine in and it just fitted (as I knew it would). He then asked me to put it on some scales and it displayed 11.5kg. I had weighed it at about 9.8kg.
Naturally I thought my cheap chinese 'Jinger' must be faulty and I had to go off and check the bag in and pay all the associated baggage and check in fees. Quite a lot of money.
When I got home I left the cased packed and weighed it again on the Jinger and it was still showing 9.8kg. I then got some unopened 1kg bags of suger and flour out of the kitchen and put them in a plastic bag to weigh on the Jinger. 5kg of bags displayed as 5.1kg. So it seems that my Jinger is accurate and the scales used by Ryanair in Spain are dodgy. It is obviously now very difficult to prove anything but I have been relieved of a considerable amount of money on what seems to have been out-of-calibration scales.

sturll · 4 June 2009 at 3:06PM

I know hindsight is a wonderful thing, but what you should have done was dispute the scales there and then. You should have suggested your bag be re weighed on an alternate scale since you disputed the accuracy of the scales you were asked to weigh your bag on.

Unfortunately, other than you sending a harsh letter of complaint i doubt very much you will get any form of compensation.

Still, i suppose you can look forward to the "all our scales are highly accurate etc etc etc" obligatory reply.

nico26 · 4 June 2009 at 3:14PM

Been there with the scales at Murcia. 9.5 at home and 9.5 at Prestwick on the way out. Was just going for couple days. No coffee and milk in case on way back .10.6 on return at Murcia. Argued but no use. Had to fork out for luggage for hold. Was raging. When arrived back home weighed my case and it was only 8.75. Can understand your frustration. Loads of people that night were questioning the weight as they just had hand luggage.

We really should as sturll said complained to someone else at the time but the red mist comes down when you try to argue your case with the Spanish at the airport. Was more worried they would bar me from the flight for argueing.

lelasuzi · 4 June 2009 at 3:23PM

Happened to me in Alicante once. BMIBABY. Weighed it on our hand held thingy 18.7 kgs. Airport 20.5 kgs. She tried to charge me for .5! Told her where to go and would never fly with them again.

PolishBigSpender · 4 June 2009 at 3:40PM

The problem in this case isn't Ryanair, but rather the ground staff at the respective airports. The scales are dodgy all over Europe - I had a couple of hours to kill in Stansted and tried my 14.5kg bag on various scales. The lightest was 13kg, the heaviest was 16.5kg - and this was in a British airport, in a country that's not well known for unfair play.

But Strull is correct - you should've weighed them elsewhere in a calm, rational manner. Alternatively, the sensible option was not to be so close to the limit.

lelasuzi · 4 June 2009 at 3:51PM

Sorry, just noticed it was about Ryan air. Its is true however that all scales are different in airports.

MountainMan101 · 4 June 2009 at 4:24PM

I just got back from my first Ryanair experience.

We used the scale in East Midlands, and arrange our bags so we were both under the 15kg limit. The scales were similar to those we have at work and were correctly setup and accurate enough.

On the way back, both bags should have been lighter (minus kettle, 1pt of UHT milk and 300ml of contact lense cleaner = ~1kg). The check-in scales (on an empty area) showed both bags over. I also noticed that the accuracy values for the scales where +/-0.1 kg.

At work I would not accept a result as significant that was within 3 standard deviations of another. So 14.7-15.3kg could well be 15kg actual. However Ryan Air would charge £15 (technically without evidence) for 15.1kg.

We had no trouble as the check-in girl didn't look at the weights and I also worked out you can surreptitiously lift the bag with your knee to lighten the value.

Hauptmann · 4 June 2009 at 4:55PM

sturll wrote: »

I know hindsight is a wonderful thing, but what you should have done was dispute the scales there and then. You should have suggested your bag be re weighed on an alternate scale since you disputed the accuracy of the scales you were asked to weigh your bag on.

Unfortunately, other than you sending a harsh letter of complaint i doubt very much you will get any form of compensation.

Still, i suppose you can look forward to the "all our scales are highly accurate etc etc etc" obligatory reply.

I did argue, and quite forcefully. However I had been pulled out of the boarding queue and the Ryanair agent told me I wouldn't be on the flight unless I stopped arguing and paid up there and then. Given that the rest of the family had boarded the plane I didn't have a lot of choice.
I should add that the Ryanair agent did appear to be one of their employees (Irish chap I think) and the scales appeared to be Ryanair's and not the usual check-in luggage scales. They were 'spot checking' passengers at boarding and I guess this was a nice little money spinner for them.

jules1964 · 4 June 2009 at 7:00PM

Hauptmann wrote: »

I did argue, and quite forcefully. However I had been pulled out of the boarding queue and the Ryanair agent told me I wouldn't be on the flight unless I stopped arguing and paid up there and then. Given that the rest of the family had boarded the plane I didn't have a lot of choice.
I should add that the Ryanair agent did appear to be one of their employees (Irish chap I think) and the scales appeared to be Ryanair's and not the usual check-in luggage scales. They were 'spot checking' passengers at boarding and I guess this was a nice little money spinner for them.

None of what you have said surprises me! But be warned, there are people on these forums who won't have a word said against Ryan Airways!

dan2002 · 4 June 2009 at 7:13PM

hi was that Reus airport by any chance,happen last time I was there 2 years ago ,1.5 kg out ,the hand held scales I use have been 100% at most airports but not Reus ,friends were in same airport and same thing 1.5 out

violetta · 4 June 2009 at 7:23PM

http://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/showthread.html?t=1013445&highlight=scales

I think I remember people writing letters to the travel section in the Telegraph about this problem too.

Ryanair - "dodgy" scales in Spain

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