Earlier this week, Irish low-cost carrier Ryanair introduced its new cabin-bag policy aimed at restricting the amount of baggage stowed above passenger seats. Passengers unwilling to pay €5.5 for priority boarding will have their wheelie-bags and other large hand baggage stowed for free in the hold - except in Israel.
In Israel, passengers without priority boarding (which can only be arranged before reaching the airport) have to pay €40 to check-in their wheelie-bags and €50 if they want to keep them until just before boarding.
A Ryanair spokesman told "Yediot Ahronot" that the charge is being imposed only in Israel due to the special security procedures operating here. In response, the Israel Airports Authority has sought clarifications from Ryanair, saying that there have been no changes in security procedures this week.
Ryanair began flying to and from Ovda near Eilat in 2015 and added flights to and from Ben Gurion airport last year. Ryanair currently flies between Israel and Spain, Italy, Belgium, Germany, Poland, Hungary, Bulgaria, Slovakia and Lithuania.
The new baggage rules have infuriated unsuspecting Israeli passengers, most of whom turned up at the airport without prior knowledge of the new arrangements. In most instances, Israeli passengers chose Ryanair because of its very cheap fares and in off-season January most of the one-way tickets purchased for destinations in Central and Eastern Europe cost less and often much less than the €40-50 now being demanded to stow bags in the hold.
Published by Globes [online], Israel business news - www.globes-online.com - on January 17, 2018
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