A holidaymaker has lashed out at Ryanair’s staff for reportedly charging him £75 for his suitcase, which was “too big”.
Austin Price was taking a flight from Bristol Airport to Krakow, Poland, on October 4 when he was stopped in the queue as staff asked him to put his suitcase in the “if it fits, it flies” measuring stand, reports NewsandStar.
The 28-year-old from Plymouth, Devon, insists that while his luggage fit into the designated space, the wheels didn’t, as they were “wonky” and “a bit stiff”.
However, the cyber security worker was shocked when a “rather rude” Ryanair employee informed him that he would have to pay extra because the bag was too large, despite already paying for priority boarding to bring the 10kg bag on board.
The holiday-maker slammed the airline company online in a post, ranting: “Just been charged £75 for a bag which clearly fits. Sort this **** out.”
But, Austin’s own photos of his suitcase in the measuring stand show that, although it fits in terms of height and width, the suitcase clearly protruded at the front.
The issue seemed to clash with Ryanair’s policy, which specifies that 10kg bags must fit within all three dimensions – 55 x 40 x 20cm – and his bag appeared deeper than the allowed 20cm.
Ryanair emphasised this, stating that the “passenger’s bag exceeded the permitted dimensions” for a 10kg cabin bag and that he was “rightly charged the standard gate baggage fee of £75.”
However, Austin blames the staff members, accusing them of “trying too hard to do their job” and doing it “poorly”.
He said: “We had priority, with which you get one hand luggage bag and one small suitcase. I used the same suitcase I have probably used for the last three years.
“When boarding, there was one individual [member of staff] that was rather rude. They have changed the [measuring] boxes now. Before, you could wheel the suitcase in, while the new ones are like an open gap, almost like they are trying to catch people out.
“My suitcase was the size that fit in the gap and I have a photo of it sitting in, but because the wheels are a bit stiff it wouldn’t sit flat because of the weight on the wheels. The wheels are not the size of the suitcase. I said it clearly fits in but he said that I have to pay.
“I thought it was only going to be around £28 as it is on their website and I thought ‘that’s annoying but I’ll take the hit, gave my bank details and all of a sudden I got charged £75.”
However, Ryanair pointed out that the suitcase didn’t fit in the “fit to fly” measuring box.
A Ryanair spokesperson said: “This passenger’s bag exceeded the dimensions allowed for a 10kg cabin bag and was correctly required to pay a standard gate baggage fee of £75 to carry a 10kg cabin bag onboard.”
This post was originally published on here
