Carl Walker, who flew from Jersey to Manchester with the airline on Saturday, said that while he understood that airlines had rules, he disagreed with the way Flybe were enforcing theirs. He also criticised the £50 charge levied at the gate on passengers with oversize bags, labelling it as ‘extortionate’.
‘I was flying from Jersey to Manchester on Saturday and although I was only travelling with a small rucksack,
I witnessed many other passengers have to pay a charge at the gate,’ Mr Walker said.
‘Instead of having the ground staff welcome you to the gate or prepare to board everyone, they were waiting there with a bag-measuring basket in one hand and a debit card reader in the other.
‘I felt so sorry for some of the people who were there – especially those with children.
‘Some passengers were actually protesting that they had been told their bag was suitable by the check-in staff. I would say about one in every five passengers ended up being charged.’
Mr Walker added that if Flybe did want to enforce their maximum-hand-baggage-size policy, they needed to do it before passengers reached the gate and be consistent with it at all airports.
‘Flybe need to be reasonable with their policy. On my return journey, when I travelled from Manchester via Southampton, there were no checks whatsoever,’ he said.
‘But my main issue is that Flybe need to do this before the gate, where there is a big group of passengers looking and watching and people may feel that they need to pay straight away.
‘Do it at the bag drop area instead, where people have the privacy and time to repack or consider other options.’
A spokeswoman for Flybe said that their baggage policy had been in place since 2016 and that their ground agents were now strictly enforcing this to make it ‘fair for everyone’.
She added that they still allowed passengers to take on board two pieces of cabin baggage – including one item that did not exceed 55x35x20cm, and one smaller additional piece such as a handbag or laptop case.
‘Prior to fully enforcing this already established policy on 17 January 2019, we conducted a number of successful pilot projects across the Flybe network last year,’ she said.
‘We also communicated extensively to alert customers that we would be enforcing the policy from 17 January. Reminder alerts are placed on all pre-flight confirmations and we also highlight the information at the top of the first page of the online booking process.
‘In addition, prior to a booking being confirmed, all customers have to acknowledge they had read our Terms and Conditions of Carriage, which includes full details of our baggage policy, including that relating to both cabin and hold luggage.’
