Ryanair Baggage allowance 15kg - how strict?

ynot2005

security at stansted do really seem to take a lot of interest in hand luggage sizes, and send back travellers often to check in,

im often left thinking surely that bag is alright while they are stretching their necks to look at it from every angle possible

if in doubt take the hand luggage to the security gates and put it into the frame supplied by them first

bargainbarmy

Just returned from liverpool plama flight and all our bags were on the cusp ie some were over some under. We didnt get charged and didn't see anybody else being charged, guess it was just a nice set of staff at both airports. However went to granada a couple of years ago and everybody was getting stung on way back. I was told that a lot of the money just goes in the local ryanair guys pocket !!! Never been charged at l'pool or seen anybody being charged there.

We can all call Ryanair but I will always use them because i can't get flights that cheap elsewhere and they are always on time as well.

peterbaker

It is very much luck of the draw with both hand luggage and checked in bags.

I have been over on both several times and haven't been charged or successfully turned back yet, but I wouldn't recommend that you deliberately turn up oversized or overweight in either department unless you already have a Plan B. Remember that check-in staff have discretion (or not) on charging for excess weight on checked in bags, but BAA security are usually the people who scrutinise size and weight on hand baggage.

I got challenged at the entrance to security last month when my hand baggage was weighed and registered 11.02kg. Too heavy, you'll have to check it in. Quick as a flash I whipped out the Tesco pack of grapes and other fruit that I knew weighed about a kilo and reweighed the bag at 9.98kg while I held the offending pack of grapes in my other hand! "Oh it was the fruit I bought on the way here!" "Yes amazing what it weighs ... go on then":)

But last time I came through security, a rather over zealous girl who obviously spoke English like a sergeant major and had no other language skills was enjoying berating (shouting "Only one item of hand baggage including laptop bags") and rolling her eyes at two Italian couples who each had a regulation sized hand-baggage mini-suitcase but unfortunately were additionally sporting small personal handbags (as Italians do!).

She pulled them out of the queue and made them stand well aside while they buried the small bags in the larger ones, quite effectively making them queue an extra five minutes in doing so. The men had those small man-sized handbags round their necks ... Mme Sergeant Major made it plain (by raising her voice - how else?) that they were still extra items and not allowed! Silly Italians!:rolleyes: My son was also watching. He's thirteen. Summed it up beautifully. "Dad, you wouldn't have thought they would employ people in that job unless they had reasonable skill in at least one language other than English".

After that initial spectacle, and while standing in the queue with not much else to do than wait for the next incident I noticed that some people were removing their belts and others removing their watches. Now I have seen this at other European airports but nothing in the announcement in English told me to remove mine! Then I heard "enlevez vos montres" which explains why some people were removing their watches, at least!

Talking of multilingual airport employees, I just love that male announcer in the main terminal who has been there for years who gets his inimitable luxuriant vocal instruments so uniquely around so many foreign syllables in a kind of cross between Frankie Howard, Kenneth Williams, and Rowan Atkinson type styles! The Stansted experience isn't the same unless he is on shift!

hubblebubble

peterbaker wrote: »

It is very much luck of the draw with both hand luggage and checked in bags.

Talking of multilingual airport employees, I just love that male announcer in the main terminal who has been there for years who gets his inimitable luxuriant vocal instruments so uniquely around so many foreign syllables in a kind of cross between Frankie Howard, Kenneth Williams, and Rowan Atkinson type styles! The Stansted experience isn't the same unless he is on shift!

I think I know the announcer you mean! Does he have a rather deep, but very clear voice? Sounds quite an 'old' bloke?..... He has been at Stansted for years I think.

peterbaker

I am sure you know the one, but steady on with the 'old bloke' bit. I've been using Stansted for years and remember when you could picnic near the runway and not see a single flight all afternoon! I'm probably almost as old as said announcer, :-)

Saint_Chris

we just flew with ryanair to cork and most of our party were under the 15kg,

i fella was 17kg and was charged

and 1 fella was 15.3kg girl let him of saying you can have up to 15.9kg

ynot2005

whats that announcer doing at stansted, he should be reading bbc news, it just shows you britain has got talent

love the italian ones the best, he just throws himself into it, he has that voice which means you just have to listen

peterbaker

ynot, this time you are so so right :beer: - I love the way he kind of s-l-i-d-e-s from deep base up almost to soprano as he winds up each new anouncement with such complete ownership, such total enthusiasm for the task, and as you say, especially the ones in Italiano. His voice is as luxuriant as the plumpest fresh green basil leaves in a Buffalo Mozzarella Tomato salad and as smooth as the Extra Virgin Olive Oil poured over it:p

Even though AFAIK, this magnificent announcer man rarely makes announcements about anything relating to Ryanair (for that never happens in earshot of the main terminal!), when he retires I still think MO'L ought to personally appear at the do. Both men share the uncanny and unshakeable ability to always make listeners smile, plus I think the announcer has daily and unfailingly kept never ending queues of Ryanair punters smiling at his art, whilst the other one usually only pops up on the telly when you are least expecting him, before disappearing back to his Dublin counting house to attend to another billion or two!

beanielou

Just too update!
Just back from France and one in our party was charged £5.50 on her excess.
The rest of us were all around 12 kg.
So as stated in terms & conditions there is no pooling of the allowances.

mobilecat

My friend went last week and had to shuffle the contents of their stuff because it was overweight HOWEVER we went to shannon last week and only took handbaggage with a 10kg lmit and they never weighed the hand baggage.