Hard-up Maltese travellers hoping to take their summer or Christmas holidays abroad with Ryanair this year face paying up to €105 to check-in a single bag under the no-frills airline’s new fee structure.
Upon unveiling seven new Ryanair routes to Malta last Tuesday, the budget airline’s deputy CEO Michael Cawley had said the key to Ryanair’s growth were its low fares and its guarantee of no fuel surcharges.
But while advertised fares remain on average lower than its rivals, Ryanair’s decision to charge higher baggage fees during the ‘high season’ this year means that travellers may find it is cheaper to fly with regular carriers if they intend to check-in bags, which many travellers find unavoidable if they are taking a long summer or Christmas break, particularly if they a travelling as a family.
The new fees apply to flights from Juneto September and from December 21 toJanuary 4.
During these periods, passengers caught at the airport with hand luggage that weighs over the free 10kg allowance will have to pay €100 to check-in the bag if it weighs up to 15kg – an increase of over 50 per cent from the old fee of €40. This rises to €105 for a bag up to 20kg.
These fees also apply to passengers who book through the Ryanair call centre.
Passengers who book online in advance to check-in a bag weighing up to 15kg during these peak periods will have to pay €50 per bag for a return journey, compared with €30 in the ‘low season’. A bag up to 20kg booked in advance will cost €70 for a return journey.
This means a family of four faces paying an extra €280 for return flights if they each check in a 20kg bag.
Easyjet, Ryanair’s main no-frills competitor, has a more generous free hand luggage allowance based on size rather than weight while Air Malta does not charge for suitcases up to 20kg and passengers may also carry on hand luggage up to 10kg. From today, Ryanair is also increasing its fee for printing boarding cards at the airport from €40 to €60.
The Irish carrier claims to have revolutionised air travel in Europe by stripping baggage costs out of the underlying fare.
Ryanair’s Stephen McNamara told The Sunday Times that many checked-in bags were not needed in the first place.
“Unfortunately there are still some peak travel times when some passengers over-pack. To tackle this, we have increased our check-in bag fees during some peak travel periods. Ryanair does not want the money from checked-in bag fees, we just don’t want lots of checked-in bags, as they are expensive to handle,” Mr McNamara said.
“Our success has been based on delivering the lowest fares on every route we fly and that our average fare – including one checked-in bag – was just €50 last year – compared with €125 at Air Malta,” he added.
Ryanair now operates 28 Malta routes. It claims its new routes will take its total annual Malta traffic to over one million passengers and sustain over 1,000 jobs on the island.