A Ryanair passenger said he was charged ￡250 extra for three suitcases after a flight attendant deemed his baggage to be "one centimetre" too large.
Mirko E. was due to travel from from Palma to Milan-Malpensa on January 1 with his wife and teenage son. After waiting three hours for their delayed flight, the businessman walked to the gate before being asked to place his bags in the measuring devices.
Despite claiming he has flown with Ryanair "many times before" with the identical bags, the man said he was stopped by the crew after noticing that the front of each carry-on bag was slightly over the permitted limit.
Mirko said that, despite the bags being just "one centimetre" too large, a flight attendant asked the family to pay an additional ￡83 per suitcase, reports Diaria de Mallorca.
The businessman, from Germany, said he asked to speak to a superior about the issue before a staff member reportedly replied: "Don't you think we are competent enough?"
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At this point, Mirko said other passengers began to weigh in on the argument, siding with the family-of-three, before Mirko decided to pay the extra fee. However, he said the stewardess then informed him that "you will not fly today".
Despite protests from himself and other Ryanair passengers, the family were left behind. Mirko said: "We have flown with Ryanair many times with these bags and there has never been a problem.
"I then asked the young lady if I could take a photo of her name tag, so she took if off and then put it back on. We still had to fly and booked anoher Lufthansa flight, via Munich, for a total of around €1,000."
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A Ryanair spokesperson confirmed that the passengers had booked the flight with a priority upgrade and were allowed to take a 10kg bag on board, as well as a small backpack.
The spokesperson said: "These passengers booked Priority Fare tickets for this flight from Palma de Mallorca to Milan Malpensa (01 Jan), which allowed each of them to carry a 10kg cabin bag and a small personal bag onboard.
"As these passengers’ cabin bags exceeded the permitted size, they were correctly required to pay a standard gate baggage fee however refused to do so and became aggressive towards gate staff.
"As a result of their aggressive behaviour, the gate agent denied these passengers boarding for this flight from Palma de Mallorca to Milan Malpensa.”