RYANAIR CUSTOMERS WILL have to pay for priority boarding if they want to bring a second carry-on bag with them on flights, rather than place it in the hold.

The budget airline is reversing a previous policy that allowed passengers to bring two carry-on bags onto the plane with them.

The change was flagged back in September, with Ryanair saying the two-bag policy was causing “boarding and flight delays“.

From next Monday (15 January) onwards, only passengers who have paid for priority boarding – including Plus, Flexi Plus and Family Plus customers – will be allowed to bring two carry-on bags with them onto the aircraft.

All other customers will only be allowed to bring one smaller carry-on bag onto the plane, while their second bag or suitcase must be placed in the hold. These larger bags (up to 10kg) can be placed in the hold free of charge.

Priority boarding can be purchased for €5 at the time of booking or added to a booking for €6 up to two hours (via the Ryanair website) or 30 minutes (via the app) prior to the flight’s scheduled departure time.

Flight delays

In a statement released today, the airline said: “As too many customers were availing of Ryanair’s improved two free carry-on bags service, and with high load factors (95% in December), there is not enough overhead cabin space for this volume of carry-on bags, which is causing boarding/flight delays.”

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To encourage more customers to check in bags and reduce the volume of carry-on bags, Ryanair’s check-in bag allowance has been increased from 15kg to 20kg and the standard check-in fee for this bag has been cut from €35 to €25.

Ryanair’s Kenny Jacobs said the changes “will speed up the boarding of flights and eliminate flight delays”.