DUBLIN, Sept. 6 (Xinhua) -- Ryanair on Wednesday announced new reduced checked bag fees and increased check-in bag sizes to encourage more customers to check in bags.
The Irish low-cost airline said the bag policy changes are aimed at reducing the number of flight delays caused by too many customers arriving at the gate with two carry-on bags.
As too many customers are availing of Ryanair's improved two free carry-on bags service, and with high load factors in August, there is not enough overhead cabin space for this volume of carry-on bags, which is causing boarding/flight delays, Ryanair said.
To encourage more customers to check-in some bags and reduce the volume of carry-on bags, Ryanair will introduce new bag policies on all flights from Nov. 1, the airline said.
From Nov. 1, only priority boarding customers will be allowed to bring two carry-on bags on to the plane. All other passengers will only be allowed to bring one smaller carry-on bag on board, while their second bigger wheelie bag must be placed in the hold free of charge at the boarding gate.
Under the new policies, the check-in bag allowance will increase from 15kg to 20kg for all bags. The standard check-in bag fee will be cut from 35 euros to 25 euros for this 20kg bag.
The airline said these policy changes will cost it over 50 million euros a year in reduced checked bag fees.
