Hand luggage only discussion

Supernova

I have 3 seats booked on Ryanair Gatwick to Marseilles, one for me, one for my partner and one for my guitar.

Is the guitar seat entitled to its own hand luggage allowance?

uk_moneyspinner

Just got back after a couple of trips with only hand luggage.

My first trip was to Aarhus. At Stansted, they didn't appear to check the size/weight of anyones luggage, and I could see people with bags which were obviously bigger than permitted, especially in regards to thickness where people have obviously crammed in as much as they could into a bag which did satisfy the width and height restrictions!

Coming back from Aarhus however was an entirely different experience. There, when you handed over your boarding pass, everyone had to place their luggage on a pair of scales, and anyone's luggage which looked slightly oversized was placed (or attempted to be placed!) in the 'cage'. I'm guessing that these smaller airports are far less busy than Stansted, and can afford to take more time checking adherence to luggage rules.

In my second flight out of Stansted this summer, my departure gate was the first you came across as you enter the hall containing many Ryanair departure gates. There I sat and observed what was going on (which I didn't realise was going on on the previous occasion). As you entered the hall, Ryanair staff were indeed looking at everyone's luggage, and rather than enforce the rules on bags which looked slightly too big, they were concentrating on their 'one bag rule' - I'm afraid ladies that this was you out there who wanted to have your handbag in addition to your luggage, and those who bought almighty bottles of plonk from the duty free which wouldn't have gone in their hand luggage in a month of Sundays!

Plenty of people were being caught out in the short period of time I was there, and of course, some tempers flared! I was surprised at how many people maintained that they "weren't aware" of the restrictions (a remark often made as they were clutching their boarding pass which has them printed on!!)

What have a learned from my experiences and observations?

1) You are more likely to get away with a bag which is slightly too big than try to carry on 2 pieces of luggage - staff are particularly looking out for handbags and duty free carrier bags as a 2nd piece of luggage.

2) It is perfectly possible however that you will be randomly checked if your bag looks too big.

3) Remember you have got to bring the same luggage home! If you get away with it on the way out, will you be able to pull it off on the return journey? If you are flying to one of these obscure, out-in-the-middle-of-nowhere airports, staff are far less busy and will have the time for more stringent checks!

Hope readers find this useful!

mystic_trev

Supernova wrote: »

Is the guitar seat entitled to its own hand luggage allowance?

Yes - but you have to check it in,in the name of Bert Weedon

MrSmartprice

from.york wrote: »

As an older lady I am lost without my handbag so I am really stuck with the "one bag only" rule. Before all the security concerns, the rule used to be one bag plus a handbag for ladies. Now I have to take a bag with space for book etc for the journey (or the wait for delayed flights!) which is large enough for me to put my handbag in as I go through security - and then I take it out again! It does mean though that I always have to check in a case with clothes - at some cost.

This is the bit I can never understand with the hand luggage issue. Why do you need a huge bag full of clothes? We regularly travel for trips of up to 10 days with only 10kg of luggage each. It is plenty. We buy liquids such as shower gel, shampoo etc if necessary when we arrive and leave any surplus behind. If you run out of clothes, rinse out a t-shirt!

The only reason it would not do is if someone was changing clothes 3 times a day and could not wear the same outfit twice. Who do they think notices?

mystic_trev

uk_moneyspinner wrote: »

Remember you have got to bring the same luggage home! If you get away with it on the way out, will you be able to pull it off on the return journey? If you are flying to one of these obscure, out-in-the-middle-of-nowhere airports, staff are far less busy and will have the time for more stringent checks!

As you've said, with alot of the more 'obscure' Airports (and Ryanair have a lot of them) probably not.

I usually turn up for any flight, at least two hours early, to avoid unforseen circumstances i.e. traffic jams etc, so have a great deal of time to observe what's going on. Certainly at the smaller Airports, Ryanair must be making a small fortune. Coming back from Rimini last month, I reckon one in every three passengers either had to rearrange their baggage, or pay for it. Go through to departures, and there's the 'cage' and a weighing machine awaiting your hand baggage! :rotfl:

Play by the rules and you can't go wrong.

Supernova

mystic_trev wrote: »

Yes

Actually the answer is no.

I couldn't find it on the website but my Itinerary email specifically says so.

peter_greetham

zoglet wrote: »

Shortly off to France with my 10 month old son flying with Ryanair. Have found a 50litre rucksack in Argos which is more or less correct size for hand baggage, not planning to pack it to bursting so should easily squish into baggage check cage if asked. As I'm travelling on my own there was no way could manage baby, pushchair and trolley case. Fingers crossed.

Can I ask you, did you book him as an infant for £20 ew and no baggage allowance and no seat, or as a child?

I am taking my 3 month old on a ryanair flight in 2 weeks and as the adult/child rate is £5 have booked him as a child under 16, well he is, isn't he?

Ryanairs t+c does say though that you cannot book a seat for an infant....so i don't know if they will want to charge me extra for him or not

peter_greetham

richardw wrote: »

The liquid/gel allowance is 1000ml, BUT each container of liquid/gel must not exceed 100ml. Do you need more than that because of your skin allergy?

You can do 2 separate bottles of shampoo 100ml each, if you need a total of 200ml for your trip.

Not quite correct, the 100ml limit is on the size of the bottle not on contents, in other words you cannot take a half empty 200ml bottle

hollydays

I bought a plastic zipped travel bag from sainsburys supermarket (it's with all the travel stuff like plugs and travel pillows).While it IS about 20 by 20 it is also about 2 inches deep which makes it a lot better than a flat plastic bag.I have it filled with some of the bottles it came with,but removed some of theirs and replaced some with half sized bottles from the boots travel range,plus several small pots for make up,and also room for my foundation, trusty eyeliner compact and mascara, and lipgloss. As i went through security the security person said "ooh you've done well",which I take as a compliment.

peterbaker

20cm x 20cm x 2" (5.08cm) = over 2 litres which means it is therefore more than double the capacity of specified maximum size (1 litre) of the resealable transparent plastic bag in the Department of Transport rules.

Sorry, unless it is in some way pre-approved for this exact airport security purpose by Sainsburys, I would be surprised if any UK airport lets you through with it fully-filled with 100ml bottles if it is remotely of the dimensions I have pictured from your description, hollydays.