Travel question of the day: Simon Calder on the best luggage for Ryanair flights
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Your support makes all the difference.Q I am going on a Ryanair trip soon. Do you still recommend the Decathlon 40L bag?
David Powell
A Despite the fashion for roll-along cases, I prefer to use a bag I can carry rather than one with little wheels. Not only are they awkward on anything other than a level surface, and also make a terrible racket when in contact with cobbles and other uneven surfaces. I can see the point of them for cabin crew, but since I don’t currently anticipate becoming a flight attendant I shall carry on carrying on my carry-on.
The exact backpack I use as cabin baggage is no longer available, but Decathlon’s Quechua Arpenaz 40 litre pack looks a reasonable successor - and, like the one I use, has the benefit of costing only £14.99. The maximum dimensions are 62x28x27cm, which eager ground-handling enforcement staff will note breaches two of the limits in the 55x40x20cm size allowed by Ryanair. Just don't over-pack it; so long there is some room to breathe, you can squidge the bag into the frame if gate staff insist. Also, bear in mind Ryanair’s 10kg limit; British Airways (23kg) and easyJet (no limit) are much more generous. They also have a slightly bigger allowance, 56x45x25cm. But Ryanair and BA allow a small second piece of cabin baggage.
It's been a good couple of years since I felt the full force of the cabin-baggage assessment squad, checking dimensions, and Ryanair seems positively relaxed. And bizarrely the only place I've ever been approached in a queue by a man with portable scales to weigh my backpack was Gatwick North Terminal, when someone claiming to represent BA was checking dodgy types like me.
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