RyanAir now allows a second carry-on item!

[GilliC]

I don't know how I missed this in the original press announcement, but in case I wasn't the only one...

From 1 Dec, Ryanair will allow passengers to bring a 2nd small carry-on bag (small ladies handbag or small airport shopping bag) no bigger than 35 x 20 x 20 cms which will allow a bottle of wine or equivalent to be carried.

www.ryanair.com/en/terms-and-conditions#regulations-cabinbaggage

[GilliC]

(Our airport was one of the ones that negotiated with them to allow an additional shopping bag from an airport store, so I always used to buy something small from Duty Free and use the bag as my "purse" to hold my iPad, wallet, etc. during the flight. But it will be such a relief to just carry my normal purse without having to take a bunch of stuff out to be sure I can squeeze into my carry-on!)

[Wanderista]

Hahaha. I'm happy for you but I have to admit that announcement makes me laugh. 

"Bottle of wine or equivalent." Sounds dangerous. Seriously though, if it's a carry on then alcohol wouldn't pass the carry on liquids test right? So, I guess you'd have to buy it duty free? If you can bring that on, I can just imagine what some Brits will do with that. 

I've never actually flown Ryanair. I have some friends who do, some swear by it, but I've also heard some colorful stories about it. Like, back before the EU cracked down on this, they used to sell tickets that would land you in a different country (so, you'd buy a ticket to Vienna and land in a field in Slovakia). I am a fan of EasyJet though.

[Wanderista]

Sorry if I sound ignorant about carrying alcohol on from duty-free, I just tend to always check it in my luggage. I do the old wrapping it up in soft t-shirts thing.

[Wanderista]

Also, it probably was already but RyanAir will now surely cement its grasp on the stag weekend (British bachelor party) and football hooligan market. 

[GilliC]

Dec 13, 2013 13:38:16 GMT -5 Wanderista said:

Sorry if I sound ignorant about carrying alcohol on from duty-free, I just tend to always check it in my luggage. I do the old wrapping it up in soft t-shirts thing.

The one time we checked a bag with RyanAir was to bring back a full allowance of wine from Luxembourg.

I think they pointed the wine out in particular, because almost everyone flies carry-on only. When I went to Sardinia, I was glad that it was an airport that allowed the additional shopping bag, because I wanted to bring back some Sardinian wine which you can't easily find locally. Since I wasn't paying to check a bag, my only option was to buy it at a shop in the airport.

Since RyanAir only flies to a handful of non-EU locations (and wine isn't prohibitively expensive in a lot of EU countries anyway), I wouldn't think there's a huge Duty Free wine market beyond the Norwegian passengers!