Budget airline, Ryanair, dictates three key reasons that may lead to your checked-in luggage being loaded onto a different flight than you. And what you need to do if this happens.
One of the worst feelings when travelling is realising that your luggage did not make it to your destination. But while that can happen for a myriad of random and unintentional reasons, airlines may also have deliberately left it behind.
Budget airline Ryanair states that, whenever possible, your checked-in luggage will be carried on the same plane as you except in “certain circumstances”. According to the airline’s general terms and conditions, they may decide to carry your luggage on an alternative flight for: “safety, security or operational reasons”.
As an example, Ryanair shares that they may decide to send your luggage on a different flight to the same destination if the plane has reached the maximum take-off weight allowance. If this is a major inconvenience, especially depending on the reason for your travel, don’t panic.
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According to the airline, if your checked-in luggage is carried on a subsequent flight they will deliver it to you. That is unless any laws apply that may require you to be present to go through customs.
Once your checked-in luggage makes it to your arrival destination, you are required to collect it as soon as it is made available. While this may be tricky or inconvenient if the airport is out of the way, if you do not collect your luggage within a “reasonable time” the airline may charge you a storage fee.
Additionally, if you don’t collect your checked-in luggage within three months of the time that it’s made available for pick-up, Ryanair can dispose of it without any liability to you.
Keep in mind that you won’t be able to send someone else to pick up your luggage either. According to the airline’s conditions: “Only the bearer of the Baggage Identification Tag is entitled to delivery of the Checked Baggage.” Something to think about when you’re writing your luggage tag.
There is some leniency with this strict rule, however. The airline says that if a person attempting to claim a piece of check-in luggage cannot produce and/or identify the item with luggage tag, they’ll deliver it to that person only if he or she “establishes to their satisfaction their right to the bag.”
Ryanair’s terms and conditions also stipulate that if your baggage contains items that you are not allowed to carry, it will refuse to carry it while it contains those items. The airline also reserves the right to accept baggage that in their “reasonable opinion” is not properly and securely packed in suitable containers.
If for any reason you refuse the search, X-raying or scanning of your bag or your person, the airline says it may refuse to carry you and your baggage. That said, there are different items that the airline out-rightly bans from transport and items that are only banned from carry inside the cabin for safety and security reasons.
If you are very concerned about whether or not your bag will make it to your destination, you may want to pack more valuable items in your cabin bag. In fact, many valuable items are prohibited from being carried in checked-in luggage by Ryanair.
The following items must not be carried in your checked-in luggage, but should be carried in the passenger cabin as part of your carry-on luggage:
- Money, negotiable papers (documents guaranteeing the payment of a specific amount of money) or securities,
- Jewellery, precious metals or other valuables,
- Keys,
- Cameras,
- E-cigs,
- Watches,
- Medicines,
- Spectacles, sunglasses or contact lenses,
- Cigarettes, tobacco or tobacco products,
- Business documents,
- Passports and other identification documents,
- Personal electronic devices such as laptops, mobile phones and tablets or spare lithium batteries.
- Safety matches or a lighter with fuel/fluid fully absorbed in a solid and intended for use by an individual that are to be carried only on one’s person.