Ryanair cabin bag fee sparks outrage over perceived unfair treatment

The woman claimed younger passengers with similar bags were not hit with a fee. Photo / 123rf

A senior traveller claims Ryanair charged her a £75 ($160) fee for her cabin bag while younger passengers with similar luggage boarded for free.

Maxine Haughian, 63, was flying from Leeds to Alicante in Spain on September 10 when the incident occurred.

Haughian took to Facebook to vent her frustration, saying she was “absolutely disgusted” with the low-cost carrier.

“I’ve just been held up for 20 minutes because they said my cabin bag was too big and I must pay an EXTRA £75 for it to go in the hold,” she wrote.

The bag allegedly protruded about 2cm from the metal baggage sizer at the gate and staff said this meant it was too large to take on board.

Haughian said this was confusing as she had flown on the airline many times over the last decade with the exact cabin bag and never had an issue.

The grandmother from York had two options; pay the fee or leave the bag behind. She claimed other passengers with similar-sized bags weren’t forced to make the same choice.

“It’s funny [not funny] how other bags that are exactly the same were allowed through without comment,” she wrote, adding she was glad she took a photo of a “gorgeous” woman with a similar bag being allowed on board.

“I’m obviously not young or good-looking enough!!!!!” she wrote.

In the post, Haughian shared a photo of a young woman with pink hair, long acrylic nails and jandals pushing her bag into Ryanair’s luggage size checker.

According to Haughian, the crew appeared to choose people to charge at random, rather than ensuring all people had bags that fit in the baggage sizer.

“People were walking past with bags that would clearly not fit in the guide rack and they weren’t even being stopped,” Haughian said.

This included several people with identical-looking suitcases to Haughian whose bags stuck out of the luggage sizer but were allowed through.

Haughian accused Ryanair of discriminating against passengers as they appeared to allow the young and beautiful through without charging them a fee.

“I can’t see what reason there would be for that to have happened – for it to be okay for some people to go through and not for me to go through,” she told UK news outlet Kennedy News.

“In that instance, the only thing that differentiates us was the fact that that was a young, good-looking female and I’m not young.”

Haughian said she was older but she wasn’t a “hag”.

Ultimately, Haughian avoided paying the fee but only because she showed airline officials a photo of the other woman, who was not charged.

Haughian said the situation had been extremely stressful and she hoped she could calm down and enjoy her holiday when they landed.

Weeks later, Haughian said her post may have been heated but maintained the situation had been unfair and she felt it was a “money-making” scheme.

“I guess I was just angry at the time and felt like, ‘Why else are you letting this person through?’,” she told Kennedy News.

Haughian claimed there was no difference between her and the other woman or their bags, other than a significant age difference. Haughian said she felt older people were probably more willing to pay the fee, so they were targeted.

Like many airlines, Ryanair charges higher baggage fees at the airport. This has led to travellers employing creative techniques to avoid paying high fees.

Two travellers had custom coats made to conceal 30kg of luggage so they wouldn’t have to pay Ryanair’s bag fees.

Others have worn fishing vests filled with items to evade checked bag costs, which have increased post-Covid, especially in Europe.