Karla Ofarrell was travelling from London Gatwick to Dublin when a Ryanair staff member asked her to check if her bag fit inside the bag sizer, and was then handed a £75 fee
Ryanair remains a go-to choice for travellers seeking budget flights – but only if you stick rigidly to their stringent baggage rules. It can prove an excellent, affordable option for those content to journey with hand luggage alone, but dare to breach the 55x40x20cm cabin bag dimensions (if you’ve stumped up extra for Priority), and you could be hit with charges.
However, when one woman was confronted with a £75 penalty for carrying a bag that exceeded the limit, something incredible happened. Karla Ofarrell was journeying from London Gatwick to Dublin when a Ryanair employee requested she verify her luggage would squeeze into the bag measuring device.
And when the 35-year-old was informed it was oversized, a collection of fellow passengers intervened to rescue her.
Working together, a group of men volunteered to wind their belts around the bag to compress it down, ensuring it would slot inside the measuring frame.
Describing how events unfolded, Karla, from Dublin, revealed: “Staff came directly over to me while I was sitting down and asked me to put my bag in the bag holder.
“It fit in, but the staff said it didn’t, and I would need to make the case shrink somehow to fit it behind the tape. They didn’t pull anyone else’s bag, and when I argued that it fit, she said the bag was a danger to fly with, so I would need to make it smaller or else it wouldn’t fly.”
Karla detailed that three or four men who were standing nearby offered their belts. “I tried two different ones that were too small, and then finally one belt that would fit and make the case smaller,” she elaborated.
The Ryanair passenger continued: “The flight attendant wasn’t chuffed about it, shushed the crowd and said they were disturbing other passengers.”
According to Karla, the flight attendant was becoming “more and more irate and wouldn’t accept the bag with the belt” and “ignored” her attempts to board. “She made me wait until last and said she wouldn’t let me fly unless I paid the fine and I could ‘take all the pictures I wanted’, she added.”
Karla stated: “Me and the other passengers agreed that she wanted to make an example out of me, so she doubled down because she was embarrassed.”
The traveller explained she’d forked out £385 for the return flight on July 9, and had paid £40 for priority boarding, which allows you to bring a small personal bag (40x20x25cm) and a 10kg cabin bag (55x40x20cm) onboard.
Karla alleges that when she pointed this out to the Ryanair staff members, they threatened to ban her from flying. She now says she has lodged a complaint with the airline.
She added: “The fines are an unbelievable waste of time and bad press. Unfortunately, we had to fly Ryanair due to flight times for meetings.”
A spokesperson for Ryanair explained: “This passenger booked a Regular fare for this flight from London Gatwick to Dublin (9 Jul), which allowed them to carry a small personal bag and a 10kg cabin bag onboard.
“As their cabin bag exceeded the permitted size, they were correctly charged a standard gate baggage fee (£75) by the gate agent at London Gatwick Airport.”