The scene of student revolt on a Ryanair plane was like something out of Berkeley in the ’60s… Except it wasn’t about the Vietnam war, it was about baggage fees. So okay, it wasn’t exactly like Berkeley, but there were a bunch of pissed-off college students.

According to the cheapo airline, it had to remove 100 Belgian students from a plane in the Canary Islands after they “became disruptive, and refused to comply with crew instructions after a number of their group were required to pay a gate bag fee for outsized luggage.”

The airline allows each passenger to carry on one bag that weighs up to around 22 pounds and is approx. 22″ x 16″ x 8″ in size. If, while boarding, a passenger’s bag is found to be oversized, it will be placed in the hold of the plane for a fee of 35 euros (about $47).

According to one local report cited by the BBC, after one of the students was told he’d have to check a bag and pay the fee, several of his fellow students “mutinied.”

It’s not known exactly how many of the students were involved in this mutiny, but Ryanair says that the police who arrived on the scene decided to remove the whole group:

Lanzarote police required the entire aircraft be offloaded, each passenger identified. Following further disruptive behaviour, the police required for security reasons that this entire group be refused travel.

Belgian students removed from Ryanair Spanish flight [BBC]

100 Passengers Offloaded from Lanzarote – Charleroi flight [Ryanair statement]

PREVIOUSLY:
Judge: It’s Illegal For Ryanair To Charge For Printing Boarding Pass
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Thanks to Laurie for the tip!

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