MSE News: Wizz Air to charge for hand luggage

rustyboy21

It is the likes of some people, who think a suitcase size holdall weighing round 30kg is classed as hand luggage, who are making it worse off for the genuine,respectable passenger.

I was on a flight back from Amsterdam the other week and there was a foreign lady, who got onto a city hopper embraer 190 with 8 carrier bags, a large holdall and 2 bags of duty free, which held the flight up as the luggage bins were already overflowing with other peoples carp.

They ended up having to put it under business class empty seats as there was too much and she was screaming the plane down when they said she would have to put some in the hold.

It is now getting ridiculous the amount of luggage people take as cabin bags, spoils it for everyone else. It always seems to be the ones who check in online too, who are the worst.

Pollycat

NFH wrote: »

There is no significant cost to the airline of standard sized cabin baggage vs a smaller bag. The charge is only a means of advertising lower headline fares than what the typical passenger is likely to pay.

Your earlier post was talking about requirement for some new EU-wide legislation to prevent airlines from excluding from the advertised price any surcharges that are unavoidable for the typical passenger.

My post indicated that at least 2 of your examples from your post # 9 weren't descriptive of 'the typical passenger'.

This is proven here when you argue that people need cabin baggage.
Not everybody does.

NFH wrote: »

It's not just essentials for the flight duration but also essentials you need at your destination. Most people don't want to check in baggage unnecessarily as it wastes time at the destination airport and in many cases attracts additional charges.

You may want to travel with just cabin baggage but there may be other passengers who are happy to check in a bag and just take the few bits they want in a bag that's within Whizzair's limits.
So - which one is a 'typical passenger'?

Personally, I don't think the Whizzair revised dimensions are that bad.

42 x 32 x 25 compared to say, Ryanair 55 x 40 x 20

So the height is 7cm less (2.75"), width is 8 cm less (3.25") and depth is 5 cm MORE (2").

If you add the dimensions WhizzAir is 99cm & Ryanair is 115cm - an overall difference of 6.25".

The new sizes are (at least to me) more than 'handbag size' and I'd be fine taking a bag within those dimensions - assuming that I was checking a bag in.
Sometimes I do check a bag in, sometimes I don't depending where I'm flying to.
So, am I a 'typical passenger'?
No, because it depends where I'm going and for how long.

Nobody is a 'typical passenger' all of the time.

NFH

Kite2010 wrote: »

Whatever charge will the low-cost airlines think of adding next...

That's why we need EU legislation to prevent airlines from excluding from advertised fares any surcharges that the majority of passengers end up paying. Whether it's debit card charges or cabin baggage charges, it's all about misleadingly deflating the advertised price as opposed to giving choice to passengers.

On the other hand, hold baggage charges are acceptable, because there is a cost to the airline per item as well as a potential increased turnaround time of aircraft. However, when a surcharge is imposed that is not related to any direct marginal cost to the airline, it is solely to misleadingly deflate advertised fares.

richardw

So would this legislation also need to standardise cabin baggage sizes to the IATA standard? I can hear Ryanair moaning already.

NFH

richardw wrote: »

So would this legislation also need to standardise cabin baggage sizes to the IATA standard? I can hear Ryanair moaning already.

Yes, in fact that's a very good idea.

Ryanair could find a workaround such as incentivising volunteers to put their cabin baggage in the hold at the gate when the cabin is particularly full. For example they could give out priority boarding vouchers to volunteers for their next flight.

redpin_2

saved £50 (thomson's long haul baggage fee) by taking hand luggage only, on trip to florida earlier this year

KTF

richardw wrote: »

So would this legislation also need to standardise cabin baggage sizes to the IATA standard? I can hear Ryanair moaning already.

This is really what is needed plus airlines have to make each person with carryon put their bag in the standardised bin to make sure it fits the regulations as the majority are very slack on this now.

aleph_0

Pollycat wrote: »

Personally, I don't think the Whizzair revised dimensions are that bad.

42 x 32 x 25 compared to say, Ryanair 55 x 40 x 20

So the height is 7cm less (2.75"), width is 8 cm less (3.25") and depth is 5 cm MORE (2").

If you add the dimensions WhizzAir is 99cm & Ryanair is 115cm - an overall difference of 6.25".

Comparing capacities, WizzAir's bag is now 33.6 litres, Ryanair 44 litres, so about 1/4 less.

Wizzair's large cabin bag is 61.9 litres (matching easyjet, and the traditional airlines).

Wizzair's dimensions make sense. Bags tend to be placed 'flat', which wastes space above them. A 25cm bag still works in practice when placed flat, or possibly even can be placed sideways, 32cm high, if one is lucky. When everyone tries to hit the maximum volume, ryanair-style, it is a struggle to get all the bags in.

Hooloovoo

It's people bringing on stupidly sized carry-on bags that make me always try to be first to board the plane.

More than once I have had a problem finding space for my back because every locker has been full.

These days I try to be first on and get my small bag put away quickly. Then I can sit and relax while everyone else gets on and fills up the lockers.

I'm not sure I support a charge for carry-on bags, but I would definitely support more stringent checks of bag size. The majority of people bring a bag that quite clearly would not fit in the bag-tester and yet none of the cabin-crew seem to care. And don't get me started on the people who totally blatantly flout the one-bag rule and don't get questioned!