easyJet introduces cabin bag guarantee
Managing cabin baggage is an industry-wide challenge and it’s one which has increased for easyJet. Thanks to our industry leading load factors (89%) and seat configuration easyJet carries around 40 more passengers on each flight than our rivals. Because of this, overhead locker space onboard our aircraft is limited and so on busy flights we are not always able to fit everyone’s cabin bag in the cabin.
From 2 July 2013 easyJet is introducing a cabin bag guarantee. This means that for passengers who bring a bag no bigger than 50x40x20cm ( including handles and wheels) we will guarantee it can travel in the cabin – either in the overhead locker or under the seat in front of them.
The bag guarantee is a way for passengers to gain peace of mind that their bag will travel with them onboard the flight. The new cabin bag guarantee is transparent and fair to all our customers and the result of in-depth customer research.
It’s a relatively small change but our statistics show that we only need to see a small reduction in the number of larger bags taken onboard to have a big impact on the number of bags we have to offload at the gate.
easyJet does not charge passengers for bringing a cabin bag onboard and there is no weight limit on cabin baggage.
There is no change to our bag policy which means customers can still bring a slightly bigger bag up to the maximum IATA size of 56 x 45 x 25cm including handles and wheels, but on some of our busier flights their bag may have to go into the hold.
easyJet Plus cardholders, Flexi fare, easyJet Plus Upfront or easyJet Plus Extra Legroom customers will still be able to bring the maximum size bag, but they’ll be asked to use easyJet Plus Speedy Boarding to board first and secure their overhead locker space.
We know it will take time for customers to change their cabin bag so from today we’ll be starting a customer communications campaign to explain the new guarantee.
From experience, we know that simply asking customers to change their behaviour can really make a difference. We have seen a 17% rise in the number of people checking in online in a six month period (from 75% to 92%).
