The EU Just Voted to Require Carry-On Inclusion in Airfare — What It Changes for Budget Airlines
TravelThe European Parliament’s transport committee voted in June 2025 to require that all economy airfares include a carry-on bag and personal item. The rule has been working through EU legislative process since; the vote represents a significant structural constraint on how European budget carriers price their base fares.
What the Rule Requires
Under the adopted text, all airlines operating in Europe must include both a personal item and a carry-on bag as standard in the base ticket price for economy class. The size limits specified:
- Personal item: Maximum 40×30×15 cm
- Carry-on bag: Up to 7 kg, with total dimensions not exceeding 100 cm (length + width + height)
Airlines may still offer discounts for passengers who opt to travel with only a personal item — the rule does not prohibit fare differentiation by baggage selection; it establishes a floor of what the base fare must include.
What It Does to Budget Airline Pricing
Ryanair’s model has been built on headline fares — the €17 or €29 prices that appear in search results — that include only a personal item. Carry-on access requires an additional fee ranging from roughly €10–35 depending on the route, timing, and demand. The headline price is real, in the sense that a passenger who has a phone and a small backpack that fits under the seat can actually fly for it. But it requires deliberate planning and strict adherence to the size limit.
The EU rule eliminates this structure. If carry-on must be included in the base fare, the €17 headline disappears — the base fare must include the cost that Ryanair currently charges separately. Ryanair could still offer a lower tier for personal-item-only passengers (a discount from the new mandatory minimum), but the anchor price that drives consumer perceptions of budget travel gets repriced upward.
Passengers who currently pay for carry-on access explicitly — which is the majority of travelers who check in with more than a small personal bag — would not necessarily pay more in absolute terms. The cost already exists in the total trip price; it moves from an add-on line to the base fare line.
The Practical Implications
For travelers who already include carry-on fees in their budget calculation — which is the appropriate way to compare total trip costs — the rule simplifies comparison shopping. The total cost of a trip (fare plus bag fee) becomes visible in the headline number instead of requiring fee lookup on each carrier’s website.
For airlines, the margin impact depends on how they reprice. If Ryanair moves the carry-on fee into the base fare and removes or reduces the personal-item-only discount, total revenue per passenger is roughly flat. If the rule forces them to absorb the carry-on cost without raising the base fare, the margin impact is real.
The rule also applies to bag size enforcement. The 40×30×15 cm personal item limit and 100 cm carry-on total are specific enough to standardize what has been a chaotic patchwork of carrier-specific policies.
The So What
The regulation matters most for infrequent travelers — the passengers least likely to know the difference between a “personal item” and a “carry-on” and most likely to be surprised by fees at the gate. For frequent European travelers who already calculate total trip cost including bag fees, the rule is a transparency improvement without a major economic change. For budget carriers, the headline fare game gets more constrained. Ryanair cannot simply absorb this into existing pricing without visible adjustments. The question is whether the rule produces genuinely lower average trip costs (by forcing carriers to compete on a transparent total price) or simply reorganizes existing cost allocation. History with airline regulation suggests the latter.
Source: One Mile at a Time
Content created with AI assistance and reviewed for accuracy.
Join the conversation
Stack Insiders is our free community for readers who want to go deeper — share resources, ask questions, and connect with others across every vertical we cover.
Join Stack Insiders →