You’ll soon have to pay extra to guarantee your wheelie bag makes it onto a Ryanair flight

Any of us who have flown with budget airlines - and you may well have booked a flight this month if you know what’s what - will know, certain things come at an extra cost.

Want a hot meal on your cheap flight? That’ll be an extra tenner or so.

Want to choose your seat? That’s not free.

But you’ve at least been able to bring two cabin bags on board most flights, as long as you stay within the pre-designated allowance.

Well, not any longer.

Ryanair is introducing a new cabin bag policy, which takes effect from 15 January.

Previously, you’ve been able to bring on a small bag (e.g. a handbag, tote bag or laptop bag - basically anything that fits under your seat) as well as a small wheelie bag or mini suitcase, as long as it fits the size restrictions.

Under the new terms you’ll still get this allowance when choosing hand baggage only, but the larger bag will have to go into the hold rather than coming on board with you.

Want to contest it? Ryanair reserve the right to charge you £50 to bring the larger bag on board.

The measures are reportedly due to many Ryanair flights being busy, and there simply not being enough space in the overhead lockers to accommodate everyone’s wheelie bag on some occasions.

Previously you might have been asked by staff if you minded them moving your larger bag into the hold for free – now it’s just there in writing.

If you want to guarantee two bags, you’ll have to select ‘Priority & 2 Cabin Bags, Flexi Plus, Plus or Family Plus’ when booking your flight, according to Ryanair’s website.

You’ll still need to meet the size requirements for the bags – the overhead lockers aren’t getting any bigger, so you won’t suddenly be able to fit a full-size suitcase in there.

There is some better news, though – charges for hold luggage are coming down, so you’ll only need to pay £25 (rather than the previous £35) to get that sorted.

(Images: iStock / Rex)