Seems to vary from airport to airport. Again, we've not been checked but then again our bags are the right size ...... but on the flight over here last week there were people with bags twice the size of ours!

I have no problems with people flouting the rules, I just object when they start whining when they are caught, or I start laughing.

Bending the rules is one thing, but taking the p*ss is really pushing your luck.

I had no idea just how much baggage weight and distribution of both passengers and baggage in the aircraft can affect its flight.

I agree that Ryanair are particularly pedantic, but I grew a whole new respect for the weight restrictions on aircraft after I watched this episode of Air Crash Investigation:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3LWj_MU1YgE&NR=1

It's about 50 (gripping) minutes long, but if you can't be bothered to watch then the Wikipedia entry is shorter:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/US_Airw...ss_Flight_5481

In a nutshell a passenger plane crashed and killed all people aboard and cites two reasons for the crash, one of which being that the passengers had boarded with particularly heavy suitcases making the plane overweight and affecting the centre of gravity of the plane.

Great .... thats really encouraging for my flight back on Tuesday

Mmmmm, what about the weights on a plane few years ago when everyone took back a carry on case full of bottles ?

Yeah it doesnt make sense does it.

There were all manner of things that used to be allowed in the old days....smoking inside the cabin, "sharps" could be carried on board, planes didn't have to go through such thorough maintenance checks, etc....but then an accident happens, people die, the cause of the crash is thoroughly investigated and the investigation team make recommendations to the FAA about how to make flying safer for all.

That place crashing in the US resulted in recommendations being made about how weight of passengers & luggage is calculated and distributed throughout the plane. I don't know if all the recommendations have been implemented....I know these things take time....but I saw that one recommendation was that each and every passenger should have to stand on some scales at check in with their luggage(!) so the EXACT weight (too much weight and plane can't take off) and, distribution (incorrect distribution could cause the tail to dip on take off) could be ascertained as opposed to the current system of calculating "average" weights. I notice that recommendation still hasn't been enforced.

PD - There were actually TWO problems that caused this plane crash and each in isolation wouldn't have caused the crash. There was a mechanical fault with the tail, but the plane had flown on numerous occasions with this fault and hadn't crashed. It wasn't until the flight where the passengers boarded with too much weight that combined with the mechanical fault and crashed the plane.

Can I point out that the plane in the link that crashed in the US was a small. 19 seater, turbo-prop driven aircraft.
Weight and distribution is far more critical in that type of plane due to its' power to weight ratio. Modern Jet airliners are not affected in the same way. Also, the recommendations given were by the Federal Aviation authority, not the Civil Aviation Authority and was for planes operated in US airspace.

The barcodes used for boarding cards will not look like your normal bean can type of barcode. Boarding cards use a two-dimensional barcode which I believe is a PDF417 type. Your bean can will probably be an EAN128 or other variant of the Code128 specification.

The standard barcode type is a single dimension code that stores a limited amount of data in a straight line across the length of the barcode. Two-dimensional barcodes represent much more data because they store it along the height as well as the length. The actual data is contained in the squiggly part of the barcode with the straight vertical lines representing the start and stop characters for the barcode reader.

A one-dimensional barcode can usually be any height, the greater the height the better chance of an accurate reading because the scanner only requires one straight line reading across the length of the barcode. Two-dimensional barcodes are generally fixed height so it's important that entire barcode is clear.

Well just came through Birmingham and sods law, I was scanned
Excellent flight with Ryanair again though, nothing to complain about

My MIL always get frisked too. lol

Thanks for that,, a nice succinct explanation for why they are that way.

Is hand baggage free & what size & wt is allowed? Is Ryanair the cheapest flight from London Gatwick to Alicante?

Yes, max 10 kilos with Ryanair and Monarch ,Easyjet has no limit "within reason" and yes probably Ryanair are cheapest from Gatwick and everywhere else seemingly. Max dims for hand luggage 56x45x25

Only if you don't want to pay extra!

Max dimensions are 55x40x20

http://www.ryanair.com/site/EN/faqs....ggageallowance