How has Ryanair changed its cabin baggage rule and will other airlines do it too?
But as the summer holiday season gets under way there is some good news for those who struggle to travel light: Ryanair has announced it is increasing the size of the small 'personal' bag you can take in the cabin for free by 20%.
This sounds unusually generous of Ryanair – is it?
Yes. But it comes as airlines fall into line behind a new EU guaranteed bag size of 40cm by 30cm by 15cm. The current dimensions of the Ryanair free carry-on limit are 40cm by 25cm by 20cm. It is increasing them to 40cm by 30cm by 20cm.
Ryanair trumpets this is 'bigger than the EU standard'. It says the change 'will be implemented over the coming weeks, as our airport bag sizers are adjusted'.
The size change represents a 20% increase in volume and means Ryanair will be accepting free bags one-third bigger than the new EU minimum.
But that is the only aspect of Ryanair's baggage policy that is changing. If you get it wrong and a gate check reveals the bag is oversized you will pay a fee of £60. A larger cabin bag can be added to a flight booking for £6 to £36 depending on the route but, again, if it is deemed too large at the airport it will cost £75 to stow.
Will other airlines change their luggage rules, too?
Some won't have do anything. Rival budget airline easyJet, for example, already allows a more generous free underseat bag. Wizz Air's current free bag policy is the same as the one that Ryanair is moving to.
The airline association Airlines for Europe (A4E) says its 28 members have started applying the bag dimensions which were agreed by EU transport ministers last month.
'This will bring more clarity to passengers across Europe,' says its managing director, Ourania Georgoutsakou. 'From city-hoppers to family travellers, everyone will benefit from the same clear rule across our members' networks.' Standardising cabin-bag rules has been on the Brussels agenda for years with the decision to settle on a size enabling frequent travellers to buy one piece of luggage that will be accepted by multiple airlines.
All A4E airlines will be following the bag rule by the end of the 2025 summer season, it says, adding that 'carriers will continue to permit larger personal items at their discretion'.
Aren't hand baggage fees being abolished anyway?
Not yet, but they could be. European consumer groups are calling on EU lawmakers to investigate budget airlines for 'exploiting consumers' by charging for hand luggage.
In May, BEUC, an umbrella group for 44 consumer organisations, called for Brussels to investigate seven airlines, including Ryanair, easyJet and Wizz Air for this. BEUC director general Agustín Reyna said the airlines were 'ignoring the EU top court who ruled that charging [for] reasonably sized hand baggage is illegal'.
The organisation was referring to a EU court of justice ruling in 2014 that said the 'carriage of hand baggage cannot be made subject to a price supplement, provided that it meets reasonable requirements in terms of its weight and dimensions'.
In the meantime, Spain has become a battleground for the issue. Last year, its consumer affairs ministry fined five carriers, including Ryanair, a total of €179m (£150m) for charging passengers for hand luggage and seat reservations. Now low-cost carrier Wizz Air is being investigated, too.
Will charges be banned?
Ryanair's chief executive, Michael O'Leary, says no. He is dismissive of the Spanish effort, recently telling the Guardian the country has a 'mad minister who's decided that as General Franco passed some law 30 years before Spain joined the EU, passengers are free to bring as much baggage as they want.' A Spanish court has now temporarily suspended the fines on three of the airlines (including Ryanair) while the matter is under judicial review, after a legal challenge.
To complicate matters further, last month the transport committee of the European parliament voted to give passengers the right to an extra piece of free hand luggage weighing up to 7kg.
Under the new rule, travellers could bring one cabin bag measuring up to 100cm (based on the sum of the dimensions) on board their flight, as well a personal bag, at no additional cost. (MEPs also want children under 12 years old to be seated next to their accompanying passenger free of charge.) The proposed law requires approval from 55% of EU member states, but if adopted after the negotiations due to start this month, would extend to all flights within the EU, as well as routes to and from the EU.
The airline industry is predictably opposed, stating that the cost of the bag will be folded into overall prices, pushing up fares.
'Europe's airline market is built on choice,' Georgoutsakou says. 'Forcing a mandatory trolley bag strips passengers of that choice and obliges passengers to pay for services they may not want or need. What's next? Mandatory popcorn and drinks as part of your cinema ticket?
'The European parliament should let travellers decide what services they want, what services they pay for and, importantly, what services they don't,' she says.
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Irish Times
3 hours ago
- Irish Times
Have you ever wondered if your colleague is getting more money than you for the same job?
Have you been asked your current salary at a job interview, but not been told what the new role pays? Do you suspect the guy sitting next to you is earning more? What about a colleague's swish new car – is he getting a sneaky car allowance? Secrecy around pay in companies is rife, and it often disadvantages women. New European Union (EU) pay transparency rules will lift the lid on practices that unfairly reward some employees over others. So what will it mean for you? What's changing? No one can argue with equal pay for men and women for the same work – it's been a founding principle of the EU since 1957. Companies' lack of transparency about coworker salaries and benefit-in-kind perks however, have made it difficult for workers to know how equal things are. Current gender pay gap reporting requires companies to publicly disclose the difference in the average hourly wage between male and female workers. The reporting reveals a persistent gender pay gap in many EU countries. READ MORE For individuals who perceive unfairness based on gender , it's been far too hard to get justice. 'If I wanted to bring a case saying someone of a different gender is paid more for the same work, I don't get access to the information, there isn't the transparency,' says Breda O'Malley, employment law consultant with Hayes Solicitors LLP. It's been up to the alleged victim to do all of the digging about their company's pay structures to gather evidence. This can make a legal case too costly and burdensome to pursue. [ Median earnings for men almost €150 higher per week than women, CSO figures show Opens in new window ] 'To date, it's been very hard for a woman to say, I'm getting paid differently or less money than my male colleague and he is doing exactly the same work and we have exactly the same qualifications,' says Deirdre Malone, head of employment law at EY. 'You don't have access to what your male colleagues' salary is, and you can't demand that information either' says Malone. Ireland has until next June to transpose a new EU Pay Transparency Directive that aims to make pay unfairness on the grounds of gender harder to hide and easier to prosecute. From June 2027, companies will be required to report more granular information on pay. The first reports will be based on payroll data from 2026. It means employers will have to be more open about starting salaries, pay scales and pay gaps and the information must be shared with employees too. [ Will part-time work or staying at home with children leave you poorer in old age? Here's what to do now Opens in new window ] A lack of transparency on these things is what has made pay discrimination so hidden to date. 'That's why we haven't seen a huge number of claims on the grounds of gender discrimination. The EU wants to make this easier,' says Malone. The new directive will shine a light on any equal-pay-for-equal-work anomalies among male and female colleagues, making it easier for victims to identify unfairness and get justice. This should mean fairer compensation and career progression for all over time. 'Companies will be required to provide transparency in their pay systems – this means more information, and information is power,' says O'Malley. 'The information is not just something that can sit in the press and you hope employees don't know about it,' says O'Malley. 'Employers will be obliged to proactively tell employees each year that they have an entitlement to know where their personal pay sits relative to their grade, they are entitled to know their band for their range of work,' she says. 'I don't think the Department of Finance have any respect for the tourism industry' Listen | 41:44 The directive covers equal pay for 'work of equal value'. This will involve a complex comparison of roles based on things such as skills, effort, responsibility and working conditions. So it's not just about comparing the compensation of people with the same job title. Employers must examine and categorise all work in the organisation. Those doing work of similar value, not just those with the same job title, must be rewarded similarly. Changes to the legal position in the UK in relation to the issue have resulted in a number of substantial cases being taken. Clothing retailer Next came a cropper when, retail sales consultants, mostly female, were found to be earning less than the company's mostly male warehouse workers. In equal pay cases, employers must demonstrate that any pay difference is due to a 'material factor' other than sex. Next's argument that the pay difference was due to the differing 'market rates' for the roles was not accepted by the tribunal. [ Pay transparency directive could lead to more legal actions against employers, Ibec event told Opens in new window ] The courts ruled the sales work was of equal value, even though on the face of it, these jobs looked different, says Malone. A similar claim is being pursued by Asda workers, she says. 'If it's accepted that working on the supermarket shop floor is work of equal value to work in the dispatch centre, this comparator gives you an idea as to how 'equal value' can be interpreted,' says Malone. What if I think I'm being paid unfairly? So, if you suspect you are being paid differently to colleagues of another gender doing the same work, or work of equal value, what can you do? First up, if you are a senior accountant, for example, you can't ask what your senior accountant colleague 'Tom' is earning. 'You can ask for the gender pay gap within your cohort of people. You are not going to be able to ask how much 'Tom' is earning, but you'll be given the percentage of the gender pay gap in your category of worker,' says Malone. 'If a company has a gender pay gap of 5 per cent or more and they can't objectively justify it and they don't fix it, then employees or their representatives will be able to compel a 'joint pay assessment (JPA)'', says Malone. This is where the employer must collaborate with worker representatives to identify the root cause of the gender pay gap in their organisation and implement remedies to fix it. For private, non-unionised workplaces, used to paying who they want how they want, this could be an embarrassingly revealing moment. 'If the JPA finds there is a more than 5 per cent gap between pay on grounds of gender in any category of their workers, and if it can't be justified by seniority, qualifications or other objective things, and that isn't remedied for six months, an inquisition kicks in that deep dives into the employer's pay system,' says O'Malley. [ Gender pay gap: Women seethe quietly with rage at performative nonsense Opens in new window ] To the worker, or her lawyer or trade union on her behalf, this inquisition effectively 'spoon-feeds the evidence' for a case, says O'Malley. 'Before, if you as an employee contacted me and said, 'I reckon the guys are earning more', we'd say 'what proof do you have?' And very quickly, you run aground.' 'Now the employer must create all the evidence that I would have been trying to pull together at a huge cost.' If you think you were unfairly paid on the grounds of gender in the past, you will have some recourse too, says O'Malley. 'The directive says there should be a three-year period where I can do a look back, with the trigger for the three years being when I became aware or could have reasonably expected to be aware of the infringement,' she says. How will the interview process alter? The new rules mean asking a prospective hire their current salary at a job interview will be prohibited. 'If you are going for a new role with a new employer because it's a promotional opportunity for you, it's highly likely, based on all of the statistics published, that if you have one male and one female candidate, the female is earning less,' says Malone. For a woman who is already paid unfairly compared with male colleagues, asking her salary at an interview can serve to perpetuate the discrimination to their next role. 'Companies won't be able to ask candidates about their pay history, which really makes it a level playing field,' says Malone. Instead, employers will be required to disclose salary ranges or pay levels in the job ad or before the interview. 'And, it's a conversation starter, it doesn't prevent you from negotiating,' says Malone. [ The broken rung in the career ladder - why women continue to earn less Opens in new window ] Employees will also be able to ask what criteria is used to determine pay levels for career progression, says Malone. 'You can find out what the pay is for the role, and what the pay progression for your career will look like,' she says. This should stop situations where two people doing the same work can end up on different salaries over time, for no objective reason. The new rules mean employees can talk to each other about pay too, says Breda O'Malley. 'Once the legislation is implemented, you cannot prohibit an employee from discussing salary or disclosing salary,' she says. What are the changes to benefit-in-kind perks? Benefit-in-kind perks can comprise a substantial part of a worker's overall remuneration package. These items are sometimes awarded on a discretionary basis such as a car allowance, a fuel allowance, memberships, courses, stock options, health benefits, car parking or death-in-service benefit. Until now, companies only had to disclose the percentage of men and the percentage of women receiving a benefit in kind, says Malone. [ Benefit in kind: Be careful those office perks don't come back to bite you in tax Opens in new window ] The new legislation includes benefit-in-kind perks as part of the definition of pay and requires employers to quantify and disclose their value when assessing pay levels and potential gaps. If one gender is getting more of the company cars and stock options, you'll know. Making a difference? The pay transparency directive is part of a multipronged approach by the EU to level the playing field for women, says Malone. Alongside the Work Life Balance Directive for parents and carers, and a directive mandating minimum gender representation for women on boards of publicly listed companies, the new directive recognises that women are more likely than men to step out of the workplace for caring responsibilities, she says. 'Analysis in the UK, which has been reporting on gender pay gap for longer than Ireland, is that women are falling out of the workplace from age 40,' says Malone. 'These directives are really about keeping women in the workplace and enabling them to progress to senior roles,' says Malone. The new pay transparency directive will bring an initial increase in gender pay-related court cases, O'Malley believes. [ Gender segregation undermines efforts to address skills shortages, study finds Opens in new window ] 'Cases will be easier to take, and you will have a longer period in which to take them,' she says. It will change workplaces too, she thinks. 'It will change mindsets, no more than when maternity leave was introduced,' says O'Malley. 'It's rare enough now, but it still arises, that someone doesn't know that a woman is entitled to come back to work after maternity leave.' The message to employers is, 'Get your house in order fast', says O'Malley. 'You have an opportunity before 2026 to understand if there are weaknesses in your pay system and start remedying them. Don't wait for the deadline, or you will be exposed to claims and publicity.'
Irish Independent
3 hours ago
- Irish Independent
Shamrock Rovers sign multi-year deal to extend relationship with ticketing firm
Future Ticketing, which says it is Ireland's industry leader in offering digital ticket services, has assisted the Tallaght-based club to process key data and services. The agreement, which is an extension of a nine-year relationship with Shamrock Rovers, helped enable the planning of a new family focused North Stand at Tallaght Stadium, informed by in-depth understanding of the club's demographics, it said. Future Ticketing's chief marketing officer Ann Marie Guinan said the key breakthrough between the partners was the development of an app for the club. 'We were delighted to work with Rovers to improve the fan experience,' she said. 'We have helped the club automate its workload and the development of the bespoke Shamrock Rovers digital ticket app was a real breakthrough in ensuring that the seamless digital transformation coincided with enhanced fan loyalty.' According to Future Ticketing, Shamrock Rovers were the early adopters of a 'game-changing' technology called Dashboard Connect. This allowed the club to host home and away ticket sales, prioritising loyal fans and guaranteeing ticket-holder visibility. Shamrock Rovers' head of business operations Ross Cullinane said: 'Since 2016, Future Ticketing has been a key strategic partner for Shamrock Rovers, supporting us through a period of sustained growth. 'From record attendances at Tallaght Stadium to major European fixtures, Future Ticketing's technology has allowed us to scale seamlessly while delivering a smooth, high-quality experience for our supporters.' The club highlighted Future Ticketing's application programming interface (API), which allows different software to work more effectively and gives the club the ability to integrate ticketing with every part of their digital infrastructure. 'That flexibility has enabled us to streamline operations, improve decision-making, and enhance how we engage with fans,' Mr Cullinane said. Future Ticketing's headquarters are in Co Offaly, and it has offices in Manchester and Edinburgh. It describes itself as the leading ticketing solutions provider for clubs in the League of Ireland, the Northern Ireland Football League, and the Scottish Premiership and Championship.
Irish Independent
3 hours ago
- Irish Independent
From ‘no LGBTQ+' ads to deposit scams and ‘€700 for a room with five others' – students' grim rent search laid bare
One student has been forced to make a daily four-hour commute to get to college due to the dearth of available accommodation A Trinity College student is planning a four-hour round trip to college from her family home in Co Louth every day, after an unsuccessful accommodation search that included an offer of a bed in a room of six for €700 a month. Ella Flynn (19), from Dunleer, Co Louth, is about to start her second year of European Studies at Trinity College Dublin. She now plans to commute from her family home, describing some of the college accommodation listings she came across as 'crazy'. 'Originally, I was just looking for a room for myself, and one of the worst ones I was offered – but one of the cheapest places I found – was €700 a month to share a room with five other people in the city centre,' Ms Flynn said. 'It was an apartment with three other rooms. There was a master bedroom with a double bed, another room with bunk beds set up in a hostel style and then the six-bed room.' Ms Flynn was offered this bed by a letting agency which markets itself as providing 'expert assistance'. Reviews of the agency are mixed, with some mentioning deposits they paid that never reached the accommodation provider. 'At the very cheapest, I was seeing Dublin accommodation at €600 to €700 [a month] without bills included – and it was still an hour-and-a-half commute from college,' she said. Later in her search, the Louth woman began looking for a property with two friends and soon came across an apartment that seemed too good to be true. 'We were nearly caught up in a scam. A lot of the time, these 'landlords' will say they are on holidays – and say that if you want to secure a place, you should put a deposit down now, before you view the place. 'That's what we experienced with this particular landlord, who was letting this apartment at quite a cheap price.' ADVERTISEMENT Learn more Ms Flynn and her friends were wary of the landlord from the beginning, but once they said they would pay the deposit only after viewing the apartment, the landlord stopped replying. 'Instances like that, I think, are very common,' she added. 'In a desperate situation, it would be very easy to put a deposit down on something and then not get it back.' The Trinity student's commute from Louth can often take two hours, though she has a slightly quicker journey if she manages to get an Expressway bus. Commuting has taken a toll on her enjoyment of college life, with Ms Flynn not managing to go on a single night out in her first year because of the demands of having to rely on public transport. 'I have one friend who takes a three-hour bus to get to college,' she said. 'You're living a different college life than people living in town or on campus.' Upcoming first-year student Jake Glendon (19) from Kilkenny had started looking for student accommodation in Dublin six months ahead of the academic year, in the hope of securing a single room. During his search, he came across offers of 'digs' which said they did not welcome the LGBTQ+ community, or were aimed at 'females only'. 'It was on a student pad platform. It wasn't [the platform] itself, but it was someone that put up a house for six students,' he said. 'And that was a comment underneath it, that it wouldn't welcome LGBTQ+.' In April, he posted a video on TikTok describing the situation, and the advert was taken down shortly after. I reached out to the TUD Student Union, and they were quite helpful Mr Glendon, who is hoping to study science at TUD Grangegorman, said the majority of on-campus student accommodation in Dublin was too expensive for students. 'The cheapest I found was €850 a month. But you were sharing a room with someone as well, which was obviously not ideal. There was no en-suite bathroom either. 'In Dublin, in terms of actual student accommodation, it would range anywhere from €850 to €1,300 a month. 'So I decided then that digs might be a better option – and the cheaper option in Dublin.' Mr Glendon managed to find a single room for €630 with three other people living in the house for the upcoming academic year starting in September. He credited his early accommodation search as the reason why he was able to find a room for better value. 'I reached out to the TUD Student Union, and they were quite helpful,' he added. Mr Glendon is a TikTok content creator who sat his Leaving Cert last year and posts online advice for students. 'In fifth year, I started posting TikToks here and there about the Leaving Cert, what I was doing in fifth year, and my exam projects, such as home economics or biology. 'And then, from there, the videos began to become popular, and I took it fully on in sixth year,' he said.
