The high cost of low-fare air travel

On May 25, my wife and I returned to Malta on Ryanair flight FR3883 from Luton. Upon check-in at Luton Airport, our bags were weighed and measured according to the metal frame structure that Ryanair uses to ensure bag sizes are within their guidelines. We had one suitcase that was checked in and my wife and I each had hand luggage that fit within the metal frame and the 10 kilos allowance.

When we arrived at the gate, a Ryanair ground steward advised us that we would have to check in both pieces of hand luggage since they were too bulky for "carry-on" and that we would have to pay an additional £70. I told him the bags had been checked by Ryanair personnel and they fit into the metal frame.

He then produced some kind of cardboard structure, much smaller than the metal frame, and said the bags had to fit into that. When I argued that this was a different size to that at check-in, he rudely said that it was not his problem and if we wanted to take the bags with us we would have to pay to check them in.

At this point a Ryanair ground stewardess advised my wife to remove some of the things from one of the bags and put them into the other bag which would be checked in. We were then charged £35 but still allowed to carry the other bag on as hand luggage even though it was exactly the same size as the bag that had to be checked in! At this point we were beyond trying to argue the logic behind this, so we paid and boarded.

So much for being a low-cost airline! By the time you've paid the online fees, credit card and checked-in luggage fees, and the fees that you can't actually predict and that seem to have no logic behind them, the flight probably works out to be more expensive than that of a scheduled one!

I won't be flying Ryanair any time soon.