first timer ryanair

Hobsons_Choice

Not ALL airports allow the carrier bag (e.g. Birmingham). I've been allowed to do it at East Midlands though, there are notices in (only) Boots and W.H. Smith saying their carriers will be allowed as extra to hand luggage on Ryanair. Don't rely on it though, it's often different on the return leg.
Just make sure your case is the right size/weight (including wheels and after packing): your handbag will fit into the case (though I've worn a cross body bag with boarding papers etc under a zipped-up jacket) and your liquids are in a separate see-through bag going through security and you'll be fine.

badly_dubbed

flew with RA last month to tenerife....no trouble...nobody even checked the bag sizes once....couldnt even tell you if they were too big/small

virtuallyfree

Your friend is wrong.
They sometimes have a slot at the gate that the bag has to fit through.
Make sure everything fits into your bag.
I put a small bag for the flight in the pocket of my cabin bag and take it out before i put the cabin bag it up in the locker. Never buy food or drinks they are so expensive onboard.

Moto2

eezer wrote: »

Very sure. There are signs in both Manchester and Lanzarote airports saying that this is allowed. I've done it with no hassle at all.

Here's a quote from a bbc 'your money their tricks report':

AENA, who run Alicante Airport, told us: The Air Navigation Law was passed in 1960, however, it has been updated several times over subsequent years in order to ensure that it reflects current air transport circumstances.
In particular, article number 97 of the Law was modified in March 2011, and regulates the obligation to transport at no extra charge, as hand luggage, the items purchased in the shops located in the boarding area of an airport so as to avoid any practices that infringe passenger’s rights, and the commercial activity of the airports.

The problem is though that RA dispute that the law is valid any more as it applied to government run airports, AENA dispute RAs take on it. Unless one of them takes the other to court to get a ruling, the stalemate will continue. Or a passenger takes RA to court over it.
RA may well let people on on some flights with an extra bag but they're just as likely to decide 'today we won't'
You'll then have 5 or 10 minutes to argue your point and win over the gate staff :rotfl: , squeeze the extra bag in your hand luggage, leave the extra bag or simply not travel.
In which case you'll be able to sit at the bar smugly knowing you're right whilst trying to find another way home.

So try it but be aware that it may not work out quite the way the signs in the airport say it should.