Heading Abroad? Pack Light As EasyJet Lower Baggage Allowance

For many of our readership the summer pilgrimage to electronic music hotspots unwind after another year with their nose to the grindstone will involve a journey via a budget airline. We all complain about them but we still all use them year after year despite our ever growing list of complaints. Now in a move sure to annoy holiday makers all over prominent low-cost airline EasyJet have announced that they will be reducing the maximum size of cabin luggage that people will be able to take onboard their flights.

Attempting to disguise the bad news for passengers the airline announced the new rules as now ‘guaranteeing’  they will be able to take luggage onboard with them despite the fact that their new allowance is 37 per cent below the maximum size allowed. The introduction of such measures is allegedly due to packed planes  not always being able to fit passengers’ luggage on-board.

Currently easyJet allows luggage to be taken into the cabin if it’s below the maximum size of 56cm by 45cm by 25cm – a total of 63 litres per bag. 

This will continue to be the overall maximum cabin allowance set by airport authorities but from July 2, easyJet is cutting the dimensions for baggage that is guaranteed for the cabin down to 50cm by 40cm by 20cm – including handles, pockets and wheels – to a total of just 40 litres. However it must be noted that there  is no weight limit on cabin baggage.

In a statement on its website, easyJet said: ‘Managing cabin baggage is an industry-wide challenge and it’s one which has increased for easyJet. Thanks to our industry leading load factors (89 per cent) and seat configuration easyJet carries around 40 more passengers on each flight than our rivals. Because of this, overhead locker space onboard our aircraft is limited and so on busy flights we are not always able to fit everyone’s cabin bag in the cabin.’

What we do know is this will be a sucker punch for many passengers looking to get away this summer with luggage fees often costing more than the initial price of the flight.

Check out a list of other cabin baggage limits below

easyJet

50cm x 40cm x 20cm (‘guaranteed’). No weight limit.

Ryanair:

10kg limit  – 55cm x 40cm x 20cm

BA:

One piece of hand luggage weighing no more than 23kg – 56cm x 45cm x 25cm  – plus one laptop or handbag.

Flybe:

10kg limit 55 x 40 x 23cm

Monarch

Either, one bag now bigger than 56 x 40 x 25cm (5 kilo limit) or two seperate pieces of hand baggage no bigger than the previous limit or weight. (Apart from Luton airport, which has a one bag policy.)