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Italy opens probe into Ryanair hand luggage charges

bbc.co.uk

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Re: Italy opens probe into Ryanair hand luggage charges

#41

Post by gruturo »

wongarsu wrote: post #2

I sympathise with the consumer associations: charging for largish hand luggage makes price comparisons deceptive, distorting the market. On the other hand, storing hand luggage overhead is one of the most time consuming parts of the boarding process, which is even worse with Ryanair's short intereuropean flights. All that time spent on hand luggage costs money, and it seems only fair to make those pay that cause the…

Especially in Italy, I try to avoid checked baggage at all cost, because:

1) They charge you for it

2) They steal it

3) They lose it.

So yeah don't blame the passengers.

Re: Italy opens probe into Ryanair hand luggage charges

#42

Post by jMyles »

pbhjpbhj wrote: post #35
jMyles wrote: post #28

Earlier quoted context omitted.

If many people desire only the empty bun (gag me) then it's not so insane to show a price for that. I was on a Ryanair flight last month from Malaga to Berlin; less than half (a lot less) had overhead luggage.

Did they check baggage or not carry any?

I have no idea. :-)

I didn't stalk people about it or anything. I myself actually paid for a bag in order to be able to carry-on my guitar, only to be told at the gate that I needed to gate check it (but with assurances that they'd be very careful, etc - although it's a carbon fiber guitar in a hard case, so I wasn't too worried).

So I got on the plane without a carry-on. Then I noticed... that most other people did too.

The luggage carousel in Berlin was pretty packed, but it's hard to really say how many people did or didn't check. I imagine Ryanair keeps tabs on these things fairly tightly, as its a crucial part of their model.

Re: Italy opens probe into Ryanair hand luggage charges

#43

Post by TeMPOraL »

crottypeter wrote: post #31
pjc50 wrote: post #10

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The only reason people store so much hand luggage is that the airlines charge for checked baggage. This wasn't always the case. > offer a discount if you show up without hand luggage Realistically, how many such people are there going to be who are travelling without a change of clothes? And if they win on this one, where's next on the slippery slope? Differential pricing for handbags and laptop bags? Could they mayb…

> The only reason people store so much hand luggage is that the airlines charge for checked baggage. I don't think this is true. Frequent flyers always tell me the purpose of a large carry-on is so you don't waste time at the baggage reclaim at the destination. This makes sense to me because that can often be 30+ minutes.

I assume those people either fly to and back in the same day, have an already established "base" with clothes & cosmetics on the other end, or just buy everything at their destination. Personally, even for business trips longer than 2-3 days I end up having to use checked luggage.

Re: Italy opens probe into Ryanair hand luggage charges

#44

Post by detaro »

raverbashing wrote: post #6
wongarsu wrote: post #2

I sympathise with the consumer associations: charging for largish hand luggage makes price comparisons deceptive, distorting the market. On the other hand, storing hand luggage overhead is one of the most time consuming parts of the boarding process, which is even worse with Ryanair's short intereuropean flights. All that time spent on hand luggage costs money, and it seems only fair to make those pay that cause the…

> incentivizing people to take less luggage (bags that can be stored under your seat are still free) So how far and for how long do you think someone can fly with a luggage that fits under their seat? You can't honestly say you're selling a transportation service and let people take almost no luggage. If a fee is unavoidable, then it's not a fee, it's part of the price.

Around half my flying is with that kind of luggage, more if I look at the kind of travel I'd consider Ryanair for.

Re: Italy opens probe into Ryanair hand luggage charges

#45

Post by tomp »

sorokod wrote: post #13
wongarsu wrote: post #2

I sympathise with the consumer associations: charging for largish hand luggage makes price comparisons deceptive, distorting the market. On the other hand, storing hand luggage overhead is one of the most time consuming parts of the boarding process, which is even worse with Ryanair's short intereuropean flights. All that time spent on hand luggage costs money, and it seems only fair to make those pay that cause the…

> On the other hand, storing hand luggage overhead is one of the most time consuming parts of the boarding process Depends on how you define "boarding process". My experience is that it is insignificant if the boarding process starts at the point where the boarding gates open and ends when the plane starts taxiing for takeoff.

Exactly. If airlines wanted to, they could significantly optimize the process... Like ordering the passangers by seat number already in the terminal. Some larger airlines do that, but discount airlines prefer to make money by charging for "priority boarding"... and even that is retarded, they could simply charge more for upfront seats (I don't really see the benefit of boarding early, after all airplanes are likely less comfortable then terminals, but there is a benefit to exiting early).

Btw, as far as I know the reason for the long "everybody boarded but airplane not moving" wait times is that the flight is considered "departed" when they disconnect from the terminal, so they can be "on time" (another meaningless KPI) even if they don't actually take off an hour later.

Re: Italy opens probe into Ryanair hand luggage charges

#46

Post by ghaff »

TeMPOraL wrote: post #43
crottypeter wrote: post #31

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> The only reason people store so much hand luggage is that the airlines charge for checked baggage. I don't think this is true. Frequent flyers always tell me the purpose of a large carry-on is so you don't waste time at the baggage reclaim at the destination. This makes sense to me because that can often be 30+ minutes.

I assume those people either fly to and back in the same day, have an already established "base" with clothes & cosmetics on the other end, or just buy everything at their destination. Personally, even for business trips longer than 2-3 days I end up having to use checked luggage.

To my way of thinking you’re taking too much stuff. I once carried more because I needed suits and the like. These days I’ll go in a 3 week trip with just carry-on.

Re: Italy opens probe into Ryanair hand luggage charges

#47

Post by tomp »

TeMPOraL wrote: post #43
crottypeter wrote: post #31

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> The only reason people store so much hand luggage is that the airlines charge for checked baggage. I don't think this is true. Frequent flyers always tell me the purpose of a large carry-on is so you don't waste time at the baggage reclaim at the destination. This makes sense to me because that can often be 30+ minutes.

I assume those people either fly to and back in the same day, have an already established "base" with clothes & cosmetics on the other end, or just buy everything at their destination. Personally, even for business trips longer than 2-3 days I end up having to use checked luggage.

I'm leaving today for a 4-day trip with just a backpack (I'm a guy without contact lenses or other medical issues so I need minimal cosmetics) (admittedly I'm taking a bit of a risk by trusting the weather forecast).

A few years ago I went for 10-day trip to Cuba (i.e. you can't really buy stuff there) with a 40L backpack.

Re: Italy opens probe into Ryanair hand luggage charges

#48

Post by TeMPOraL »

tomp wrote: post #45
sorokod wrote: post #13

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> On the other hand, storing hand luggage overhead is one of the most time consuming parts of the boarding process Depends on how you define "boarding process". My experience is that it is insignificant if the boarding process starts at the point where the boarding gates open and ends when the plane starts taxiing for takeoff.

Exactly. If airlines wanted to, they could significantly optimize the process... Like ordering the passangers by seat number already in the terminal. Some larger airlines do that, but discount airlines prefer to make money by charging for "priority boarding"... and even that is retarded, they could simply charge more for upfront seats (I don't really see the benefit of boarding early, after all airplanes are likely l…

> Like ordering the passangers by seat number already in the terminal.

Yes please. The standard boarding process is retarded, and they could cut the time to 1/3 if they pre-sorted people before borading...

> as far as I know the reason for the long "everybody boarded but airplane not moving" wait times

I always assumed the airplane & airport crew is just running through some safety checklists in the time between boarding and taking off.

Re: Italy opens probe into Ryanair hand luggage charges

#49

Post by TeMPOraL »

ghaff wrote: post #46
TeMPOraL wrote: post #43

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I assume those people either fly to and back in the same day, have an already established "base" with clothes & cosmetics on the other end, or just buy everything at their destination. Personally, even for business trips longer than 2-3 days I end up having to use checked luggage.

To my way of thinking you’re taking too much stuff. I once carried more because I needed suits and the like. These days I’ll go in a 3 week trip with just carry-on.

Might be because on the flights I took, trying to stuff all my electronics (a laptop, a Kindle, power cables) and clothes&cosmetics for 3+ days in the same bag would make me exceed either weight or size limit of hand luggage.

Re: Italy opens probe into Ryanair hand luggage charges

#50

Post by gaius »

lorenzobr wrote: post #18
gaius wrote: post #9

Earlier quoted context omitted.

use a different airline. The market is extremely competitive. Ryanair is the only airline to certain destinations no matter how much you are willing to pay. And they have form for manipulation. For a long time if you wanted to opt out of their insurance, you had to set that as your nationality...

> Ryanair is the only airline to certain destinations Surely it's not Ryanair's fault if others are not willing to compete for certain destinations.

There have been various dodgy dealings around subsidies, it’s by no means as clear-cut as that. This freezes rivals out.
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