Ryanair passenger refuses £58 baggage charge and ditches suitcase for bin bag

A mum managed to board her flight without paying the baggage charge by ditching her suitcase and using a bin bag, leaving a 'jobsworth' gobsmacked.

Natalie Sadler was preparing to board her flight from Palma de Majorca to Leeds Bradford on 20 May when she claims a staff member asked her to place her suitcase in the baggage sizer. The 43-year-old caterer had purchased priority boarding for her family holiday to , which entitled her to a small personal bag (40x20x25cm) and a 10kg bag (55x40x20cm).

However, Natalie admitted that her 10kg suitcase was a 'thumbnail' too big with one of the wheels sticking out. She alleges that a Ryanair staff member then informed her she would need to pay €70 (£58) to take the bag on the flight.

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The mother-of-three claims the same Ryanair staff member told her she had to pay the fee or she wouldn't be allowed to board the aircraft. Natalie refused to pay the fee, citing the staff member's 'rude' behaviour.

Thinking quickly, she approached a nearby bar at the boarding gate and requested a bin bag. Upon returning to the gate, she emptied all of her clothes from her suitcase into the blue bin bag and left her case behind.

A victorious Natalie boarded the plane with the bin bag and stowed it in the overhead locker, triggering applause of from onlookers. Footage shows Natalie discussing her experience and the blue bin bag containing her belongings.

In a dramatic turn at the boarding gate, Natalie was told by Ryanair staff that her suitcase was a mere thumbnail too wide. She recalled: "It [the suitcase] was literally a thumbnail too wide and the wheel was slightly out, so I'm not going to dispute that."

A Ryanair staff member then gave her an ultimatum: "She [a Ryanair staff member] was like, 'if you don't pay €70 (£58) you'll get a new flight home. I'll send the flight without you.' It wasn't the money, it was the principle at this point because she was so rude.

"But I said to my husband, 'open the case' and I ran over to where the bar was near the boarding gate and I went, 'have you got a bin bag?' I opened the case at the door for boarding and she [the Ryanair staff member] was stood next to me and I filled the bag with everything out of the case."

Determined to avoid the additional fee, Natalie flung it over her shoulder "like Santa" and told the Ryanair crew that they could keep her bag. "And off I went onto the plane. When I got on everyone was clapping, it was hilarious, it was so funny," she added.

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"Everyone was just laughing. They were clapping as I walked on with this bag. I couldn't get down the aisle because it was so big. Everyone found it highly amusing. I told them [the passengers on the plane] there was no way after the way she spoke to me was I giving her any of my money. Not a chance."

Natalie noted that she had used the same suitcase on a Ryanair flight before without any trouble. She claims she had flown out to Palma de Majorca on Ryanair just seven days prior with the same suitcase and experienced no problems.

Natalie, who had received the brand new suitcase as a gift from her parents, was willing to part with it rather than pay the extra fee. She explained: "I was quite happy to forfeit the suitcase. It's just a suitcase, it's not the end of the . I was like, 'I'm not leaving all my clothes, what am I going to put it in?".

Natalie decided not to pay the £58 fee for the oversized suitcase, considering it was only worth £45 new.

"It is absolutely ridiculous but I'm glad I stood my ground. There's so many people who would have just gone, 'get the card out, pay them'," she concluded.

A Ryanair spokesperson clarified the airline's bag policy: "Ryanair's bag policy is simple; if the bag fits in our bag sizer, which is bigger than our agreed dimensions, it gets on free of charge. If the bag doesn't fit within our sizer, it will get charged for. This passenger's bag exceeded the permitted dimensions, and they chose to repack their items in an alternative bag that would fit the sizer instead. There is a very simple solution to this, which is that passengers simply comply with their agreement at the time of booking and travel with bags that fit or are smaller than our agreed bag dimensions."