Ryanair small bag allowance - taking a bigger, squishy bag?

bitsandpieces

I've got the joy of a Ryanair flight from stansted to come... As well as my hand luggage, I'd like to take a very light backpack with very little in it. This is bigger than Ryanair allow for a small bag, but will easily squish down to that size. Are Ryanair likely to object?

Plan b is to take a smaller bag that I can squish backpack and contents into if needsbe, but that does seem a bit silly

PS: anyone know if stansted are charging £1 for clear plastic bags at security now?

jonesMUFCforever

You will get 3 types of replies.


1 You will definitely be ok as my mate did this 6 years ago etc.
2You may be ok but best to check with Ryanair.
3 You will not be ok don't try it.


Please choose which one you want.

Running_On_Empty

One bag only allowed and it, and its contents, must fit into their frame measuring device. That is all.

bitsandpieces

Thanks. My small bag will squish into a small bag size frame...though I've found a very light smaller bag so will pocket that in case they complain about the size of my larger bag.

callum9999

Running_On_Empty wrote: »

One bag only allowed and it, and its contents, must fit into their frame measuring device. That is all.

That is not all as it's completely wrong... TWO bags are allowed.

bitsandpieces wrote: »

Thanks. My small bag will squish into a small bag size frame...though I've found a very light smaller bag so will pocket that in case they complain about the size of my larger bag.

The small bag will presumably fit in any supermarket carrier bag? In which case just take one of those with you - seems a waste to take another bag just for this. In the incredibly unlikely event of anyone saying you can't take the bag on despite it fitting within the bag sizer (do they even have one for the smaller bag? I haven't flown Ryanair since the new rules came in), just put it in the carrier bag for the couple of minutes you're in line and then take it straight back out as soon as you're through the gate.

SW17

Running_On_Empty wrote: »

One bag only allowed and it, and its contents, must fit into their frame measuring device. That is all.

Incorrect. Ryanair's current cabin baggage policy is:

"One cabin bag weighing up to 10 kg with maximum dimensions of 55cm x 40cm x 20cm, plus 1 small bag up to 35 x 20 x 20 cms may be carried per passenger"

In practice the Ryanair main cabin bag gauge is slightly deeper than their allowance, and actually says on it that they will take a bag as long as it fits in the gauge (first 90 bags only). Of course, they do still have the right to weigh it, not sure how often that happens.

callum9999 wrote: »

The small bag will presumably fit in any supermarket carrier bag? In which case just take one of those with you - seems a waste to take another bag just for this. In the incredibly unlikely event of anyone saying you can't take the bag on despite it fitting within the bag sizer (do they even have one for the smaller bag? I haven't flown Ryanair since the new rules came in), just put it in the carrier bag for the couple of minutes you're in line and then take it straight back out as soon as you're through the gate.

Yes they do have a sizer for the small bag, it's attached to the front of the main gauge. I guess if the bag squashes into it (with contents) at the gate, they would allow it on. However, at Stansted, you are allowed one normal sized Duty Free carrier bag in addition to cabin allowance, including on Ryanair. Not sure if they check whether it actually contains DF items...

callum9999

SW17 wrote: »

Incorrect. Ryanair's current cabin baggage policy is:

"One cabin bag weighing up to 10 kg with maximum dimensions of 55cm x 40cm x 20cm, plus 1 small bag up to 35 x 20 x 20 cms may be carried per passenger"

In practice the Ryanair main cabin bag gauge is slightly deeper than their allowance, and actually says on it that they will take a bag as long as it fits in the gauge (first 90 bags only). Of course, they do still have the right to weigh it, not sure how often that happens.




Yes they do have a sizer for the small bag, it's attached to the front of the main gauge. I guess if the bag squashes into it (with contents) at the gate, they would allow it on. However, at Stansted, you are allowed one normal sized Duty Free carrier bag in addition to cabin allowance, including on Ryanair. Not sure if they check whether it actually contains DF items...

I regularly did that to get a free second bag back when they only allowed one (I went to WHSmiths and bought one of their bag-for-life style bags and filled it with my stuff). They never checked the contents.

Are you sure the free bag at Stansted is in addition to those 2 bags? An example of a smaller bag from Ryanair is duty free purchases.

bitsandpieces

Thanks! In all the messing around packing I somehow hadn't thought of taking a carrier bag. I'll take my bag with a plastic bag in it just in case it's needed (though it should fit in the bag size checker anyway).

SW17

callum9999 wrote: »

I regularly did that to get a free second bag back when they only allowed one (I went to WHSmiths and bought one of their bag-for-life style bags and filled it with my stuff). They never checked the contents.

Are you sure the free bag at Stansted is in addition to those 2 bags? An example of a smaller bag from Ryanair is duty free purchases.

Well, I haven't actually tried it myself when departing from STN, but there are posters all round STN trumpeting it and the STN airport website currently says:

New! Shopping Bag Allowance Changes
Anyone travelling from London Stansted Airport can take one airport shopping bag, in addition to hand luggage. This applies to all flights, including Ryanair services.
Note: standard sized shopping bags only.

I assume that means in addition to whatever the cabin allowance is for each airline, which of course varies, but in Ryanair's case is the 2 bags mentioned.

callum9999

bitsandpieces wrote: »

Thanks! In all the messing around packing I somehow hadn't thought of taking a carrier bag. I'll take my bag with a plastic bag in it just in case it's needed (though it should fit in the bag size checker anyway).

No problem. I always find having a spare carrier bag while travelling to be particularly useful anyway, even if you don't need to use it at the airport!

SW17 wrote: »

Well, I haven't actually tried it myself when departing from STN, but there are posters all round STN trumpeting it and the STN airport website currently says:



I assume that means in addition to whatever the cabin allowance is for each airline, which of course varies, but in Ryanair's case is the 2 bags mentioned.

Ah, I assumed it was a relic from the days of 1 bag only but you're right, that does imply it's in addition to the 2 bags.

I'm a pretty light traveller though so could get away with a backpack plus carrier bag pretty easily anyway!