Just flown with Ryanair, going out from Edinburgh at the boarding gate they were asking for some people in front of us if they were willing to put their bags in the hold for free, there was no pressure put on them to do so, as the seats are all allocated now we didn't rush to get on early and they didn't ask us to place our bags in the hold when we went up.

On the return flight from Malta we were asked at check-in (we were quite late in checking in) if we wanted to put one bag in the hold free of charge, again there was no pressure and we could have refused however it suited us and they let us put two bags in free.

From what I have seen they are asking if required and certainly at the moment there is no pressure, however if people start realising that they might be able to get an extra bag in to hold free things might change.

I must say it was very pleasant actually not having to join a scramble to get on the plane, having said that there was quite a queue formed at the gate an hour before departure in Malta which I just didn't understand again we just hung back and wandered on at leisure.

Yes it'll be much more relaxed now that seats are allocated. I'd hang back too and let them get on with it, although I think some like to get on quickly in order to get their bags in the lockers so they don't get separated from them.

I get the feeling that in the not too distant future they will make a charge for taking on hand baggage , not just Ryanair but other airlines too , if you want to take on the standard size bag you will be charged , if you take on the new smaller size ( that they are guaranteeing stays onboard ) it will be free , why else create a two tier system ? I think airlines are worried about the standard size and the overall weight inside the cabin , if these bags fall on someone they could cause serious injury , if everyone was to carry on smaller bags with less weight then everyone could safely and easily stow their baggage which holds their valuable items . Also the delays that are caused by passengers trying to find space for the larger sized bags means that this new idea seems good , but wait for the sting in the tail !!

Ryanair 2nd bag was introduced because people, and airports, were complaining about not being able to buy a bag of goods airside, without having to put them in the hand luggage and keep it under 10kg. RYR did come to an arrange with some airports, and in Spain it is actually law that you are allowed to buy goods airside and take them on board separately. There was a few tussles between Aena and RYR about it.
I really don't think they're creating a two tier system, just giving people the choice. Take an extra small bag eg handbag, or buy a bag of goods airside. You can't do both, unless one bag goes into your hand luggage.

It all depends on the day. When I was in the front seat last year a woman got on towards the end with a holdall, handbag & duty free bag. I was a bit miffed as I'd had to purchase a new hold luggage bag as I didn't dare take the risk, because my other newish bag was a tad bigger than their specs.

I hope RYR don't go to softly softly. The one thing I liked about them was that you knew where you stood, and they were strict with luggage. If they start to let the lines get wavy it won't do the passengers or the company any good. It's a great pity all airlines weren't as strict as they were, and hopefully still will be.

I'd read so many reports of how strict they were, going along the line pulling out & checking bag sizes etc so I bought the new bag. It wasn't only the lady with numerous bags though, it was the giant bags that were trying to squeeze past my seat also. No way were many of them the same size as my regulation sized bag.

But I suppose at least I didn't have the hassle of being stopped.

I'm less worried about the new luggage rules than I am about the new online check-in policy Ryanair introduced this month where they reduced the number of days in advance of your flights that you can check-in online unless you pay for an allocated seat in advance.

My wife and I are flying to Gran Canaria in a couple of days time for a two-week holiday. I was not aware of this policy change beforehand so only discovered when I tried to check-in online today that unless I pay upfront for a pre-allocated seat (GC is £10 pp each way for a regular seat, £15 pp for premium), the earliest it will let me check-in online for the return flight is 7 days before we are due to fly back to Bristol which is smack-bang in the middle of my holiday. What a pain. I would understand it if the outbound and return flights had been booked separately but they were booked at the same time and in the same booking. As I didn't really feel like searching out an internet cafe to check-in and print off the boarding passes for the return flight during my holiday, I have paid the £20 for pre-allocated seats on the return flight to save the hassle on holiday which of course is exactly what Ryanair hope we will all do now. I didn't bother paying for pre-allocated seats for the outbound flight though because there were still a few empty rows of unreserved seats when I checked in which turned out ok because we were allocated seats next to each other in one of those rows anyway. Ryanair say seats are randomly allocated but obviously not that randomly. It saved me £20 so happy about that.

The upside of this new policy is everyone knows what seats they will be in before arriving at the airport as they are shown on the boarding pass you print off. You would also like to think that it would mean the end of the rush to be at the front of the boarding queue to get seats together, but Ryanair's new cabin luggage policy probably means that the queue to board first will still be there for those people who don't want their normal hand luggage put in the hold. Fortunately, my bridge camera, my tablet, my phone and my e-reader will all fit in the additional cabin bag they now allow so at least I won't have any valuables in my cabin case if it ends up having to go in the hold.

I find this new rule really calculating and certainly not customer care. They've obviously sat down and worked out a way to force their customers to fork out more money, disguised as offering a better service by allocating seats. I can't think of any other reason why they would bring in this new printing passes rule unless it was to make money.

I would understand it if the outbound and return flights had been booked separately but they were booked at the same time and in the same booking.

It's because Ryanair are a point to point airline and they don't actually sell return tickets. All flights are one way, whether booked together or not.

Even when check in was 15 days prior, people that were away from more than 2 weeks had to find somewhere to check in and print boarding passes.

Glynis HT Admin wrote:

I find this new rule really calculating and certainly not customer care. They've obviously sat down and worked out a way to force their customers to fork out more money, disguised as offering a better service by allocating seats. I can't think of any other reason why they would bring in this new printing passes rule unless it was to make money. :(

If it was only about making money they wouldn't be introducing mobile boarding passes this Summer.

Sunaddict wrote:

Glynis HT Admin wrote:

I find this new rule really calculating and certainly not customer care. They've obviously sat down and worked out a way to force their customers to fork out more money, disguised as offering a better service by allocating seats. I can't think of any other reason why they would bring in this new printing passes rule unless it was to make money. :(

If it was only about making money they wouldn't be introducing mobile boarding passes this Summer.

So why do you think they have changed the check in rule only for non seat purchasers?

It says on their website that only certain customers will be able to use the mobile boarding pass & for a fee:-

6.2 All passengers are required to check-in online on http://www.ryanair.com/ and print out their boarding passes. From the 01st April 2014 certain customers will be able to download a mobile boarding pass for the fee set out in our Consolidated Table of Fees .

I think it's to give people who decide to pay more choice of seats, if they opened check in for non pre bookers it would limit the paying peoples choice.
No matter when they set it there will always be people who have to check in while away.

I'm not sure the boarding pass info is up to date. It certainly didn't start on 1st April and there are no charge showing for mobile pass use. All the articles I've read about the mobile passes there has been no mention of cost, but time will tell..........

Sunaddict wrote:

Even when check in was 15 days prior, people that were away from more than 2 weeks had to find somewhere to check in and print boarding passes.

But in the vast majority of cases people go for 2 weeks or less so they can print both sets of boarding cards at home but now they can't , the new 7 day rule suits business people who fly both legs the same day or next day , but not the average holidaymaker who books 1 week or 2 weeks , it's a bit of a " sneaky " move , I think it's designed to catch out people like Robbo and the scenario he faced and no doubt many more in the future .
The new procedure is adequately displayed on their website so people shouldn't really miss it , they then must make a decision by either booking a seat or finding a way to check in online whilst away .
Why couldn't they keep the 15 day checkin as previous ?? If you desperately wanted to prebook a seat then you can from 30 days out , but then on the other hand they are a business and have to make profit , but an enhancement like pre booking seats ( which customers want ) new website , new TV advertisements all indicating a newer friendlier airline still do not cover the sneaky little tricks aimed to boost revenues .

As they say , you can put lipstick on a pig , but its still a pig .

Magic way of putting it, still chuckling

Sunaddict wrote:

I would understand it if the outbound and return flights had been booked separately but they were booked at the same time and in the same booking.

It's because Ryanair are a point to point airline and they don't actually sell return tickets. All flights are one way, whether booked together or not.

Even when check in was 15 days prior, people that were away from more than 2 weeks had to find somewhere to check in and print boarding passes.

Not quite true as in September 2012, my wife and I flew with Ryanair (it was to Gran Canaria then as well) and although we were away for 18 days that holiday, we were still able to check-in and print off the return flight boarding passes the day before we left. I even posted about it on this forum thread back then (found it on page 86) and the situation was because we had booked our return flights at the same time as our outbound flights we were allowed to check-in our return flight up to 20 days before the return flight date which we were very pleased about at the time of course. Unfortunately, that is all out of the window now so they really can use the easy excuse of being a point to point airline now.

Going to Lanzarote in June for 2 weeks and with Ryanair new policy of printing boarding passes 7 days to 2 hours before each flight it makes life a bit awkward.
1.... Does anyone know where in Puerto del carmen l can print out our return boarding passes..
2.. I use to print out our boarding passes on Ryanair "Manage Booking" but the holiday company l have booked with this year are doing this so the "Manage Booking" does not work for me..
The company said the will send a E-Mail 7days before each flight with my boarding passes, do you think this means they have done the free allocated seats for me and l just print them..... If this is the case l hope my partner and me are sitting next to each other...

Anyone know how they work the free allocated seats out so people sit together as it says on the Ryanair site they will do random free allocated seating...

There's one here Ray:-

NAME: Cybercafé Jableº
CITY: Puerto del Carmen
ADDRESS: C/ Bernegal 4 35510 Puerto del Carmen
PHONE: 928/596001
FAX: 928/596296
EMAIL: cybercafe_jable@teleline.es
HOME PAGE: http://www.guacia.com
HOURS: 10:00 AM to 12:00 PM
FACILITIES: 10 computers available, printer, scanner, video conference,


http://www.guacia.es/contacto.php

It's in Spanish so have linked you to the map.

Thanks for that info Glynis ... I just could do with answers my next query about boarding tickets and how they allocate you and your partner ... Oh and suggestions about taking items on board as I see they only allow 90 on board cases now... So everyone will still be rushing to queue up like before even though you have a seat allocated ..