Business
How has Ryanair changed its cabin baggage rule – and will other airlines do it too? | Ryanair
For all but the most seasoned travellers the metal bag sizers used by budget airlines have become an instrument of fear because of the heavy financial penalty incurred if hand baggage is too big to fit.
But as the summer holiday season gets under way there is some good news for those who struggle to travel light: Ryanair has announced it is increasing the size of the small “personal” bag you can take in the cabin for free by 20%.
This sounds unusually generous of Ryanair – is it?
Yes. But it comes as airlines fall into line behind a new EU guaranteed bag size of 40cm by 30cm by 15cm. The current dimensions of the Ryanair free carry-on limit are 40cm by 25cm by 20cm – below the EU rule. It is increasing them to 40cm by 30cm by 20cm.
Ryanair trumpets this is “bigger than the EU standard”. It says the change “will be implemented over the coming weeks, as our airport bag sizers are adjusted”.
The size change represents a 20% increase in volume and means Ryanair will be accepting free bags one-third bigger than the new EU minimum.
But that is the only aspect of Ryanair’s baggage policy that is changing. If you get it wrong and a gate check reveals the bag is oversized you will pay a fee of £60. A larger cabin bag can be added to a flight booking for £6 to £36 depending on the route but, again, if it is deemed too large at the airport it will cost £75 to stow.
Will other airlines change their luggage rules, too?
Some won’t have do anything. Rival budget airline easyJet, for example, already allows a more generous free underseat bag. Wizz Air’s current free bag policy is the same as the one that Ryanair is moving to.
The airline association Airlines for Europe (A4E) says its 28 members have started applying the bag dimensions which were agreed by EU transport ministers last month.
“This will bring more clarity to passengers across Europe,” says its managing director, Ourania Georgoutsakou. “From city-hoppers to family travellers, everyone will benefit from the same clear rule across our members’ networks.”
Standardising cabin-bag rules has been on the Brussels agenda for years with the decision to settle on a size enabling frequent travellers to buy one piece of luggage that will be accepted by multiple airlines.
All A4E airlines will be following the bag rule by the end of the 2025 summer season, it says, adding that “carriers will continue to permit larger personal items at their discretion”.
Aren’t hand baggage fees being abolished anyway?
Not yet, but they could be. European consumer groups are calling on EU lawmakers to investigate budget airlines for “exploiting consumers” by charging for hand luggage.
In May, BEUC, an umbrella group for 44 consumer organisations, called for Brussels to investigate seven airlines, including Ryanair, easyJet and Wizz Air for this. BEUC director general Agustín Reyna said the airlines were “ignoring the EU top court who ruled that charging [for] reasonably sized hand baggage is illegal”.
The organisation was referring to a EU court of justice ruling in 2014 that said the “carriage of hand baggage cannot be made subject to a price supplement, provided that it meets reasonable requirements in terms of its weight and dimensions”.
In the meantime, Spain has become a battleground for the issue. Last year, its consumer affairs ministry fined five carriers, including Ryanair, a total of €179m (£150m) for charging passengers for hand luggage and seat reservations. Now low-cost carrier Wizz Air is being investigated, too.
Will charges be banned?
Ryanair’s chief executive, Michael O’Leary, says no. He is dismissive of the Spanish effort, recently telling the Guardian the country has a “mad minister who’s decided that as General Franco passed some law 30 years before Spain joined the EU, passengers are free to bring as much baggage as they want.”
A Spanish court has now temporarily suspended the fines on three of the airlines (including Ryanair) while the matter is under judicial review, after a legal challenge.
To complicate matters further, last month the transport committee of the European parliament voted to give passengers the right to an extra piece of free hand luggage weighing up to 7kg.
Under the new rule, travellers could bring one cabin bag measuring up to 100cm (based on the sum of the dimensions) on board their flight, as well a personal bag, at no additional cost. (MEPs also want children under 12 years old to be seated next to their accompanying passenger free of charge.)
The proposed law requires approval from 55% of EU member states, but if adopted after the negotiations due to start this month, would extend to all flights within the EU, as well as routes to and from the EU.
The airline industry is predictably opposed, stating that the cost of the bag will be folded into overall prices, pushing up fares.
“Europe’s airline market is built on choice,” Georgoutsakou says. “Forcing a mandatory trolley bag strips passengers of that choice and obliges passengers to pay for services they may not want or need. What’s next? Mandatory popcorn and drinks as part of your cinema ticket?
“The European parliament should let travellers decide what services they want, what services they pay for and, importantly, what services they don’t,” she says.
When we think of AI, we often picture Silicon Valley giants or futuristic sci-fi movies. But in the arena of global trade and e-commerce, AI is no longer a futuristic concept — it’s rewriting the rules of global trade and reshaping competition. Across Alibaba.com’s findings from over 20,000 submissions to its CoCreate Pitch entrepreneurship competition, over 60% of U.S. small businesses plan to adopt AI tools in 2025.
Why? Because AI isn’t a trend—it’s a tsunami, and ignoring it could be the end for many.
New globalization runs light
Globalization no longer requires armies of specialists or decades of supply chain buildup. Today, a lean team with AI-powered tools can tap into global markets faster than ever.
These tools, like real-time translation APIs and predictive analytics, enable a two-person startup to sell across continents overnight, dismantling persistent barriers such as language differences, gaps in foreign market knowledge, and the difficulty of establishing cross-border trust.
This heralds the era of “micro-multinationals”: A two-person design studio startup could sell products across 20 countries by leveraging AI-generated market insights. Tasks that once required entire departments can now be done with the push of a button — and this is just the beginning.
Meet your co-founder: the autonomous AI agent
The rise of autonomous AI agents is further taking the game to the next level. Imagine a 24/7 co-founder who never sleeps, tirelessly sorting suppliers, negotiating deals, handling orders, and managing logistics.
For global trade, AI agents do not just find products but also evaluate suppliers, facilitate communication, process orders and even manage logistics. Think of it as having a powerful search engine like Chat GPT but for B2B trade, capable of sourcing across the entire digital landscape, combined with the talents of a team of professionals to handle the end-to-end process of sourcing and delivery. And it’s not a fantasy, Alibaba’s own Accio agent is already automating 70% of traditionally manual workflows for B2B buyers across the world, compressing fragmented processes including product ideation, prototyping, compliance checks and supplier sourcing into a seamless, AI-powered cycle.
AI is real. It’s here.
Why the $30 trillion B2B industry is leading the AI charge
While consumers are still warming up to AI, B2B decision makers are already racing ahead for three reasons:
1. Scale: Large scales of production and consumption invoke economies of scale, especially in a $30 trillion B2B industry. For instance, a mid-sized manufacturer can use AI to reduce supply chain costs by 15% through predictive maintenance, which is revolutionary to a business when millions of dollars are at stake.
2. Speed: For many small businesses, AI can drastically shrink a request for proposal process from weeks to hours by automating vendor comparisons and contract drafting.
3. Search transformation: B2B buyers will expect platforms in the future to understand extremely specific queries like “show me 3-D printed parts for aerospace that meet FAA specs,” and produce results that take them directly to a right supplier’s page. The future of B2B search is no longer about search engine optimization (SEO), but about generative AI engine optimization.
Small businesses: start small but start now
Yes, it can be daunting for a small business owner to embrace AI, but you don’t have a choice, you either adapt or risk vanishing in the dust of competitors who do.
Good news is, you don’t need a full AI incorporation overnight. Start small – perhaps implementing a customer service chatbot or AI data analysis tool – and scale up from there.
The future belongs to those who treat AI not as a luxury, but as essential infrastructure.
The opinions expressed in Fortune.com commentary pieces are solely the views of their authors and do not necessarily reflect the opinions and beliefs of Fortune.
AI is now a central pillar of business transformation, driving competitiveness, efficiency, and innovation, says CII-Protiviti report.
The “Vision AI: Trends and Strategic Insights 2025” report, released on Thursday, highlighted AI’s pervasive impact across various sectors.
“The question of whether AI will change our world is no longer hypothetical — we are seeing the impact everyday. From transforming industries to reshaping how we work, AI has moved from opportunity to impact. AI literacy and fluency are no longer optional; they are mission-critical for every industry, every leader, and every enterprise. The opportunity to build with AI is immense,” Microsoft India & South Asia President Puneet Chandok said.
In the financial services industry, AI is redefining trust, regulation, and fraud detection.
By incorporating intelligence into risk assessment, compliance functions, fraud detection, and customer engagement, financial institutions are achieving precision and flexibility in a sector where reliability is paramount, the report said.
Manufacturing and industrial domains, which are primarily driven by volume and scale, are optimising production and supply chains through predictive intelligence.
Retail and e-commerce are witnessing unprecedented changes with AI-driven personalisation and demand forecasting.
“Through transaction data, businesses now personalise customer journeys, enabling enterprises to forecast demand, optimise pricing and deliver seamless, unified commerce experiences,” the report noted.
Healthcare is seeing breakthroughs in diagnostics, treatments, and accessibility with AI.
Enterprise technologies and IT services are leveraging AI for digital transformation, cybersecurity, and cloud cost optimisation.
Real estate and hospitality are adopting intelligent automation for efficiency and enhanced guest experiences.
The automobile sector is incorporating AI-powered safety features and autonomous engineering, while energy, chemicals, and utilities are utilising AI to manage demand, optimise production, and reduce environmental impact.
For India, AI is not merely a technology shift but a national priority to enhance competitiveness, inclusive growth, and long-term resilience, CII Director General Chandrajit Banerjee said.
New Delhi, India – i.AI, a pioneering social media platform from India, is revolutionizing the digital economy by embodying the Prime Minister’s vision of self-reliance. The platform is more than a social channel, establishing a robust ecosystem that engages creators, businesses, and users with AI while safeguarding and monetizing Indian data domestically.
Founder and CEO Kapil Agarwal asserted that i.AI responds to the call for creating homegrown digital solutions. With a target revenue of over Rs.500 crore in the next 24-30 months, the platform aspires to achieve breakeven operationally by the third year. Supported by cultural relevance and AI innovations, i.AI aims to emerge as the nation’s first global social media export.
The platform continues to engage users by promoting regional content and empowering creators, marking it as a formidable competitor to global players like Facebook and Instagram. Future expansion across Asia, the Middle East, and Western markets seeks to enhance India’s position in the global digital landscape, merging technology and culture.
-
Business6 days agoThe Guardian view on Trump and the Fed: independence is no substitute for accountability | Editorial
-
Tools & Platforms3 weeks ago
Building Trust in Military AI Starts with Opening the Black Box – War on the Rocks
-
Ethics & Policy1 month agoSDAIA Supports Saudi Arabia’s Leadership in Shaping Global AI Ethics, Policy, and Research – وكالة الأنباء السعودية
-
Events & Conferences4 months agoJourney to 1000 models: Scaling Instagram’s recommendation system
-
Jobs & Careers2 months agoMumbai-based Perplexity Alternative Has 60k+ Users Without Funding
-
Education2 months agoVEX Robotics launches AI-powered classroom robotics system
-
Funding & Business2 months agoKayak and Expedia race to build AI travel agents that turn social posts into itineraries
-
Podcasts & Talks2 months agoHappy 4th of July! 🎆 Made with Veo 3 in Gemini
-
Podcasts & Talks2 months agoOpenAI 🤝 @teamganassi
-
Education2 months agoAERDF highlights the latest PreK-12 discoveries and inventions