A London-based money reporter recently shared that popular low-budget Irish airline Ryanair charged her a significant chuck of change for her water bottle not fitting in her allowed baggage.
Ruby Flanagan, a reporter for the Mirror, said she was forced to pay an unexpected £50 fee at her flight’s gate in order to board the plane. The traveler was leaving Dublin for London’s Stansted Airport when the incident occurred on February 4. According to her, the fee resulted from a discrepancy over her water bottle and baggage allowance.
Flanagan said the ticket she purchased allowed her one small bag for her belongings. She noted that she’d previously taken Ryanair flights with the backpack she had on the day of the water bottle fee incident, and the bag’s size had never been flagged before. The reporter said she had to move her 750ml metal water bottle from her strap to her backpack.
“I was one of a handful of other passengers who had been pulled aside by the Ryanair crew and were desperately trying to repack,” said Flanagan, who had already scanned her boarding pass before a Ryanair employee made her return to the gate’s waiting area. “After moving a few bits around and shoving the bottle in, my bag now had a giant growth-like lump on the top right-hand corner as the zip did its best to stay closed.”
Although she fit the bottle in her backpack, now the bag was too big to abide by Ryanair’s standard. After debating bag rules with gate agents and noting past flights without issue, Flanagan paid Ryanair’s £60 fee to board.
As of this reporting, the conversion of Flanagan’s £60 fee equals $75.63.
What Else Is There To Know About The Water Bottle Fee Incident?
Flanagan claimed that Ryanair has a “reputation for ridiculous extra charges.”
“On the 50-minute flight back to London, I realized that it would’ve been cheaper to throw the bottle away and buy a new one for £25 when I landed. Of course, that level of hindsight just made me feel stupid,” she candidly wrote.
After her complaint was rejected, Flanagan said Ryanair told her the water bottle must fit in her baggage allowance. The airline, from its viewpoint said Flanagan was bringing an extra carry-on she wasn’t entitled to.
“This passenger booked a Basic Fare ticket for this flight from Dublin to Stansted (February 4), which allowed them to carry a small personal bag onboard,” the carrier’s statement said. “This passenger attempted to board with an additional carry-on, and as it would not fit within their permitted bag, she was correctly required to pay a standard gate baggage fee (€60). Once payment was made, this passenger traveled on this flight from Dublin to Stansted (February 4).”
