Apparently, Ryanair, the low cost no frills airline, is now considering charging passengers to carry on hand luggage, as the company looks for more ways to bleed its passengers dry.
Reports today from the Irish Independent suggest that Ryanair bosses will do anything to squeeze an extra bit of cash out of passengers as they revealed charging to carry on hand-baggage was certainly a possibility that has been looked into.
Ryanair’s deputy chief executive Michael Cawley said yesterday, “When it was free, 80 per cent of people checked in a bag.
“If you don’t charge for something, that service isn’t appreciated.” It’s not the only reason Ryanair have considered charging passengers for carrying on baggage, but it’s certainly one of them.
In fairness to Cawley, he also said, “We’d consider anything, but we’re not doing it at the moment.”
The news that the company is looking to squeeze even more money from it’s business doesn’t come as much of a surprise given Michael O’Leary once said he’d make passengers pay to use the toilet (apparently he was joking). Carrying hand luggage onto flights is one of the last free services offered by the airline and the removal of this would certainly give new meaning to the term ‘no-frills’.
The company recently reported massive profits of €596m for the first six months of the year. So it looks like they could really do with the extra hand baggage money.
