Norwegian follows Ryanair’s steps and will charge for hand luggage

Passengers traveling with Norwegian Air will have to pay if they want to carry a suitcase, even by hand. The low-cost company follows Ryanair's steps and is already working on “updating its carry-on baggage policy” to force all its passengers to pay for the packages they can enter in the cabin for free.

The new policy implies that Norwegian customers can only get on board a small piece that fits under the front seat while the cabin bags with the classic measurements (55x40x23) will have to pay.

The airline transported 8.3 million passengers in Spain last year, 6.6% less

The low cost Norway has not specified how much it will cost to ship with two packages or when the new policy will be activated. “There is no specific date but it should not take long and the concepts will be made public at the time of implementation,” explained sources of the airline, which transported 8.3 million passengers in Spain last year, 6.6% less for the closure of domestic and international routes.

Thus, waiting to know more details, Norwegian explains that those who wish to upload a second piece of hand luggage can add it with a small additional cost before departure or choose a ticket type with a fare more expensive than the basic . Currently, the lowest fare allows traveling with up to 10 kilos between the suitcase and a small personal object while the Low Fare +, which can cost twice as much, includes the possibility of checking in a suitcase of up to 20 kilos. At this point, the new policy also includes increasing the weight of checked luggage from 20 to 23 kilos and the combined total weight of hand luggage for Flex and Premium tickets from 10 to 15 kilos.

The firm seeks to guarantee punctuality and represents a new way of income

Although the company ensures that the change, which will not affect the tickets purchased before its implementation, seeks to “ensure that all customers have a pleasant starting point”, the truth is that it also represents a new way of income at a time when which the firm is immersed in a process of adjustment to face its high debt. In the third quarter of 2019 (July-September), the company's extra revenues grew 7.7% but only accounted for 14% of total turnover.

Norwegian has decided to take the step to start charging for the suitcase on board despite the fact that the justice has condemned Ryanair to return 20 euros to a passenger who was forced to pay for climbing a suitcase to the cabin that had not bought the boarding Priority A sentence that according to the Irish marketing director, Kenny Jacobs, will not affect anything your current baggage policy that “is having a lot of success”. A success that has been noted in the extra income of the low cost, which have grown by 28% in their first fiscal semester and already account for 30.7% of their total turnover.