I wonder if this will eliminate the obscene prices Ryanair charges for checked luggage.

@SpiderJerusalem: You just know that they will find a way to still charge you for check luggage, its RyanAir

@SpiderJerusalem: Yeah, this is pretty confusing. I was under the impression that they made most of their money through checked luggage charges.

What will they be doing with all that space under the plane? Is that where they keep the coins you win if you hit the jackpot?

@courtarro: You may want to keep some of those coins on you in the cabin in case you need to use the restroom!

@courtarro: Knowing RyanAir, there won't be any "jackpots"

Gambling?

I'll wager most will see through this manipulative PR move.

What next, bring your own jet fuel?

I wonder what would happen during an emergency. Will RyanAir install coin-operated oxygen masks and flotation devices?

Sheesh, just declare already. This policy for checked bags is completely unworkable if we wish to maintain our current security theatre.

I fear airport security more than I have ever feared terrorism.

@SpiderJerusalem: It's a stunt. They're currently battling with baggage handlers over wages and benefits, I believe. I don't believe this will actually happen.

No razors and shampoo/products in your freakin' main luggage? Are you kidding me? What do they want passengers to do, buy all new personal products when they reach their destination.. and then throw them away before they come back..?

It's like Ryanair has ceased to become an air carrier and has become a Brecktean improv group. What's next: passengers draw straws to fly the darned things?

I used to love flying with Ryanair. Every time I read about them lately, though, I shudder and think "no f'n WAY!"

I don't care how "budget" they are, I wouldn't put up with that crap even for one of their one penny (read: at least £90 for a round trip once they add on the taxes) fares they offer from time to time, let alone the regular-priced ones.

Getting to the airport at 4am, being treated like crap by their obnoxious check-in staff, dealing with their minuscule baggage limits, the "free for all" seating policy, paying £7 for some Pringles and a KitKat inflight, the fact that the airports they fly to are generally hours outside the cities that Ryanair claims they serve... all of that was par for the course, and the cheap fares more than made up for it.

But paying to use the toilet on the plane? Schlepping my own case right to the plane and having that case treated as carry-on in terms of what I'm allowed to pack in it? I think not.

There's a jackpot cash-out fee.

@courtarro: You Optimist, I figured you would win Airline credit rather than cash

@Christie Porter: Who said that?

@hedonia: It was implied. If you have to go through the security checkpoints carrying all of your bags, then there is plenty of stuff that you won't be allowed to bring with you at all.

Granted, I don't know if all of our stupid security policies have reached Europe yet.

Gambling on the airplane within 5 years? I always thought that using RyanAir was a gamble already.

They've gone out the deep end.

I have often defended here airlines' ability to charge how they want, and tack on fees that people have a choice to avoid. But Ryanair does go too far. Too far in the sense that customers get uniformly turned off by their profit extraction schemes. It is now backfiring.

If their goal is to have zero personnel in the front check-in area, at least provide an automated kiosk so people who lost their boarding pass or something have a way to check in. And have you looked at their fees lately? There is a 5 GBP charge to check in online. (40 GBP charge to check in at the airport). How ridiculous is that, a fee to check in for your flight online?

If it's the baseline level of service that is mandatory for every passenger to pay, it should be required to be included in the fare.

@kepler11: And I understand that there is a specific business approach here -- i.e. we, Ryanair, are targeting passengers for whom we are the right airline for them to fly. Passengers who don't have a lot of luggage, are willing to fly to non-ideal airports, can check in online, don't need any assistance, want to be bombarded with non-stop loud advertising during the whole flight (did you know about that?), etc. If you don't match these parameters, you might be better off flying someone else.

But with every squeeze to extract more money, they reduce the number of people wanting to fly with them.

@SpiderJerusalem: I wonder how the hell RA is still in business.

@RZachSmith: no, the winners will get to use the restrooms. the losers will have to hold it.

The sad thing is that despite always feeling like I'm being shafted every time I book, Ryanair is still one of the cheapest airlines in Europe.

In the past month I've flown return from Liverpool to Oslo. What was once a £60 flight cost me £100 this time ($165, including charges for booking online & with a debit card), and I had to forgo luggage since that would've been an extra £20-40 on top. In contrast, Scandinavian Airlines wanted £250 for a similar flight, and BA asked for the region of £400+.

Ryanair really do take advantage sometimes, but they're much cheaper than the alternative & they sadly know it. Although this has gotten me wondering whether they'll combine the two - You'll drop your bags at the plane and find out on the other side whether they were put on with you.

@SpiderJerusalem: @SpiderJerusalem: I was going to change my display name to Spider Jerusalem but I figured it was taking. Man, forget Watchmen, when are they going to make a Transmetropolitan movie?

FR are still in business because 1) despite the hidden extras, they often are the cheapest option and 2) They've pioneered a lot of routes where they are the only operator, and have built a lot of semi-captive traffic on top of that, e.g. Brits with second homes in obscure but cheap parts of France

Ryanair's Michael O'Leary began as an insufferable tool and is rapidly progressing to an end-stage arrogant git, and his sclerotic attitude is reflected in the increasingly bizarre "optimisations" of Ryanair's business model.

You know what, I would be ABSOLUTELY FINE with putting my own suitcase on the plane. At least I would be with it at all times, know nobody was rifling through it between the ticket counter and the plane, and I would know for sure it got on my flight. One less opportunity for it to go astray or get robbed. I think that banning items like sharps and liquids a la carry-on is wrong, but the schlepping? I would actually like that as an option.

I think there is an profitable niche for an airline (like Easyjet), which doesn't have frills, but which doesn't try to screw the customer at every turn. Cheapness doesn't have to be mean (which is Ryanair's image nowadays).

Just wait until you experience a flight cancellation with Easyjet...

What am I missing?

Ryanair is implementing policies that reduce operating costs and passing those savings onto its customers. It's called innovation. The airline industry operates on a very thin profit margin, the labor being one of their largest cost. Eliminating ticket agents and baggage handlers through technology and service level changes is what the airlines should be doing. The customer is the ultimate judge on whether the innovations are worth the cost difference.

Personally, I will always choose the lowest price ticket for flights under 2 hours. For cross country and international flights I will take other factors into consideration.

@MitchV: Hear, hear!

(An abbreviation for "hear, all ye good people, hear what this brilliant and eloquent speaker has to say!")

This isn't gonna work. There's a reason customers check in their bags at the counter. There's a bag belt system there that goes to the back where they're loaded in a cart, taken to the plane, and finally loaded onto the plane.

In the jetway, there's simply no way they can handle the work load. There's no system to handle 100+ bags in the jetway and down the stairs, even if it's just a few meters away.

@Christie Porter: no, you're supposed to mail them back and forth, of course.

@4dawgswoof: It’s not a matter of passing on savings but passing on savings and additional work and restrictions to the customers. Since checked luggage will now be under the same restrictions as carry-on luggage, toiletries will most likely have to be purchased at the destination and then discarded before returning. How much money will be wasted in doing this? Furthermore, some passengers will probably pack lighter in order to avoid carrying so much luggage to the plane, which makes it more likely that they will purchase some forgotten necessity at the destination, which will also likely be discarded before returning.

In the end, some customers will get real savings, and the rest will do a lot of work just to save £5. Excellent work, RyanAir! Your ticket to irrelevance is almost ready.

@Christie Porter: Ryanair is a European carrier. Do they still not let you bring liquids on the plane in Europe as well?

/too lazy to google.

@Neurotic1: Heh. Jetway? RA flies to dinky airports that mostly lack them. It'll be like gate-checking a bag on a Barbie jet.

Ugh. If your self respect is worth less than the £50 or so you might save with these fuckers, be my guest.

I remember seeing an interview with the CEO of Ryanair where he believed people would eventually depart with the quaint notion of bringing luggage on a trip. People, in his ideal world, would buy their clothes and other essentials at their destination. Maybe this guy should do a partnership with Tesco or H&M.

Regardless, Ryanair is really cheap. If you don't like them, don't fly them.

There are other discount carriers in the EU that are a bit more expensive (like Easyjet) but don't try to screw you as much with surcharges. Ryanair doesn't make any pretenses about what it does; a cheap airlines that gets you to point A to B.

The interesting thing about the quality of service on Ryanair is that many US airlines treat you worse. I can even say that a trip I took to Asia on one US carrier in business class was far worse than any experience I had with a budget carrier in Europe.

The strangest thing about the US carrier market is that Southwest is one of the best/least expensive/efficent/pleasant airlines you can fly. No frills on their airlines, but then again they don't chatge additional fees to check in luggage (which you are alreay charged for), if you don't pre-check in from home.

@MsAnthropy:

No kidding! I flew Ryanair once from Paris to Madrid... in order to get to the airport they fly out of, I had to take a bus, train, two subways, then another bus. Then it was impossible to sleep on the flight because they spent the entire time hawking lottery tickets and whatnot over the PA. Never again.

@watson2001: While I do prefer EasyJet over Ryanair, they screw you as well. I checked the price for one ticket, then my friend and I decided to book together so we'd only have to pay one "payment fee". However, when you choose two passengers, the price increases to make up for the lost payment fee. Sneaky buggers.

@takes_so_little:

Why? RA is an excellent airline!

(Of course, RA is Nepal Airlines.)

FR (RyanAir), on the other hand, deserves it's own circle of hell.

I still don't get it.

I hear people complaining that they are getting screwed by Ryanair for charging outrages baggage fees, while the overall flight cost is significantly lower than the other carriers.

I also don't get the issue with toiletries. I travel several times a month, haven't checked a bag in years and haven't had to buy toiletries at the other end. I do re-packed some my toiletries in smaller containers, which helps make my bag lighter.

My favorite airline in the US is Horizon Air. They are a regional airline that was one of the first to offer checkin kiosks and plane side baggage check in. They are an efficient, cost effective and very user friendly no-frills airline. Seems like Ryanair is trying fill a similar niche.

Why all of the complaining about Ryanair? If you don't like their business model, go to another air carrier.

@Sandlapper: I welcome this. It should reduce the amounts of lost or stolen baggage.

@Christie Porter:

Christie, RyanAir will sell you the products you need on the flight, but you can't bring them back on your return flight though.

@SpiderJerusalem: Baggage fees you say? I flew Ryan Air round-trip to Venice from London (a horrible experience in itself.) On the flight there, the baggage allowance was 20 kgs. When we flew back 4 days later, they arbitrarily LOWERED the allowance, dropping it to 15kgs, forcing everyone on their return flights to PAY EXTRA FEES, even though 1) the tickets were already paid for, and 2) we adhered to the original baggage allowance. We complained, the check-in staff didn't a flying fuck, and told us to pay, or miss our flight.

I paid approximately $40 (US) for the 2 kilos of excess baggage. Ironically, before the trip I had the opportunity to book with another (far better) carrier for an extra $40, but foolishly chose to penny-pinch. Consider it a lesson learned.

@jenjen:

Actually, I'm rethinking here. The schlepping part doesn't bother me so much. Just don't charge me for the privilege. And the liquids/sharps/whatever-banning, absolutely no way.

To the smarties who are trashing this idea, why not actually wait until you see how it works before you hate it? Frankly, who cares if you don't think it will be a good idea. Your vote really doesn't count if RyanAir makes it work for their business model.

It's not "budget" a better way to descrive this airline is ghetto.@MsAnthropy:

Try travelling to a place like Italy from the UK via Ryanair. I loved my flight, it was absolutely great. The flight crew was awesome both ways, the price was cheap. The plane was clean and comfortable. We paid the 6 pound fee to board first, which was totally worth it. However, the flight cost (in reality) an extra 20 pounds because I had to buy expensive suntan lotion at Boots before boarding at Stansted and it wasn't even the type I wanted! I had no choice because we were flying for business and weren't getting the bags paid for. I needed to have suntan lotion so that I didn't burn like crazy out in the sun, as many activities were outdoors. Suntan is rediculous in the UK. $20.00 for a crappy bottle of LOTION which seeps into your eyes! No spray on stuff with an SPF of 20+ either, which means I would have to re-apply hourly. No thanks.