Ryanair reduces number of hand luggage bags passengers can take into the cabin on flights

The low-cost airline is only allowing those who’ve paid for priority boarding to take two bags on board as hand luggage

The airline has also cut the fee on checked baggage, and increased the weight limit (Getty)

Ryanair has changed its cabin-baggage policy once again. Passengers who want to take two bags into the aircraft must now pay extra for priority boarding.

From 1 November, only travellers who have paid £5 for the privilege of boarding ahead of the rest will be able to take two bags on board. Everyone else will have to surrender the larger bag at the departure gate, and pick it up on arrival from the baggage carousel. If they refuse to give up the bag, perhaps because it contains valuables, they will not be able to travel.

At the same time, Ryanair is reducing its standard fee for checked-in baggage from £35 to £25, and increasing the weight limit from 15kg to 20kg.

The airline, which is Europe’s largest, insists the move is not motivated by profit. Since it relaxed its cabin baggage policy in 2014, allowing passengers to bring two bags, the “load factor” has increased from 82 to 97 per cent – meaning there are around 25 more cabin bags to be fitted in.

Ryanair says the squeeze is delaying flights, and jeopardising the swift turnarounds on which the business is based.

“It’s not a money-making exercise,” said Kenny Jacobs, marketing director of Ryanair. “We will be taking a hit by reducing the checked bag fee.”

To avoid the extra fees, passengers have been taking their maximum allowance – and sometimes exceeding it.

Mr Jacobs told The Independent: “We’ve tried flagging it up; we’ve tried policing it more strictly at the gate.”

The new policy will apply to all passengers, regardless of when they booked, from the start of November. Any traveller wanting to take two bags will need to take them through the security search, so the usual restrictions on liquids and sharp objects will apply.

Both British Airways and easyJet are also experiencing record load factors. BA is tactically contacting passengers on some busy flights, asking them if they would like to check in their cabin bags free of charge, while easyJet is inviting travellers to pay £4 per person for cabin baggage to be checked in before the security search.

Announcing its August traffic figures, easyJet said it had achieved a record load factor for the month of 96.3 per cent.