Ryanair Fees 2026: The Complete List of Every Charge

Published: 16 August 2026

The most expensive Ryanair flight I’ve ever taken cost £19 to book and £94 by the time I’d landed. Checked bag added at the airport because I’d misjudged a work trip, a seat next to my colleague because we’d left it to the last minute, and a coffee at the gate because I’d spent thirty minutes queuing to fix a name typo. None of it was a scam. Every one of those charges sits somewhere on the Ryanair fees 2026 list below, exactly as the airline publishes it. I just hadn’t read the fare rules properly.

Ryanair’s base fare is genuinely the price of a seat and nothing else. Everything past that — a bigger bag, a chosen seat, a changed date, a corrected name — is unbundled and priced separately, and the prices move by route, date and how full the flight is. That’s the whole business model, and it works precisely because most people don’t check the fee list until they’re standing at a gate agent’s desk.

This is the list I keep coming back to before every Ryanair booking. Every fee I’ve been able to verify, in one place, in pounds. For the underlying baggage rules and dimensions, see the Ryanair Baggage Allowance guide — this post is about what things cost, not what fits where. Everything else about the airline lives on the Ryanair hub.

Ryanair fees 2026 at a glance

Prices are ranges because Ryanair prices dynamically — the same add-on costs more on a full Friday evening flight than a quiet Tuesday morning one. Where I’ve seen a typical floor and ceiling, I’ve listed both.

Ranges like these move constantly, so treat the table as a guide to scale, not gospel — the exact figure Ryanair shows you at checkout for your specific route and date is the one that counts. Now the detail behind each one.

Baggage fees

Baggage is where most of Ryanair’s ancillary revenue comes from, and it’s the category with the most tiers. The prices are below; for exact gate-sizer enforcement and what actually gets waved through, see Ryanair Cabin Bag Size and Baggage Allowance.

Free personal bag

Every fare includes one bag up to 40 x 30 x 20 cm with no weight limit, as long as you can lift it yourself. This is the only genuinely free allowance Ryanair offers.

Priority & 2 Cabin Bags fee

Adds a second bag, up to 55 x 40 x 20 cm and 10kg, that goes in the overhead locker, plus a priority boarding queue. £6-£36 at booking, £20-£60 if added later via Manage My Booking, and not available to buy at the gate at all. Turn up with a 10kg bag and no Priority and you’re paying the £70-£75 oversized fee instead, with the bag going in the hold. I’ve written a full breakdown of when Priority is actually worth the money in Ryanair Priority Boarding: Is It Worth It?, and rounded up bags that fit the 55 x 40 x 20 cm limit without wasting weight allowance on the bag itself in best 10kg priority bags for Ryanair. For the free personal bag, see best cabin bags for Ryanair.

Checked bag fees: 10kg, 20kg and 23kg

Three weight tiers — 10kg, 20kg and 23kg — all bought separately unless your fare bundle includes one. The 10kg tier is the cheapest way to check anything at all, starting from around £9-£10 at booking. The 20kg tier is the most commonly booked; it typically starts around £20-£25 at booking and climbs well past £40 if you leave it until after booking or the airport desk. The 23kg tier is capped at one per booking and exists mainly for passengers connecting onto another airline that uses 23kg as its standard.

Excess weight charges

Go over the tier you paid for and it’s charged per kilogram — £13/kg at the airport, and the hard ceiling is 32kg per bag regardless of what you’re willing to pay. A bag that’s 33kg simply doesn’t fly with Ryanair, full stop.

Sports equipment and bike fees

Skis, snowboards, golf bags and surfboards go in the hold for £35-£60 if booked online, £40-£75 at the airport, each item capped at 20kg. Bikes get their own tier — roughly £60 at booking, £75 later — and a higher 30kg weight cap, but they have to be boxed or bagged.

Infant baby bag

Free for lap infants, up to 45 x 35 x 20 cm and 5kg, on top of the adult’s own allowance. It doesn’t count against anyone’s personal bag limit.

Seat selection fees

Seats aren’t included on the Basic fare — you either pay to choose one or take whatever’s randomly assigned at check-in for free. Regular and Plus fares both include a free standard seat as part of the bundle. Flexi Plus goes further and includes reserved seating in any category, not just standard. Time Saver includes reserved front-row seating in rows 1-5.

• Standard seats (mid-cabin) — from £3 per person, each way.
• Front row / preferred seats — from £7 per person, each way.
• Extra legroom seats (row 1, emergency exit rows) — from £14, climbing to around £36 the closer you book to departure.

Prices rise as the flight fills, so a Tuesday-morning booking made two months out is close to the floor price; the same seat booked the night before a packed Friday departure is close to the ceiling.

You don’t strictly have to pay to sit together as a family. Ryanair’s seating algorithm generally puts groups near each other for free, and following a Competition and Markets Authority investigation into family seating fees, Ryanair scrapped its charge for guaranteeing a child sits beside an accompanying adult in June 2026. If you want a guaranteed specific seat rather than “probably nearby,” that’s still a paid selection.

Check-in fees

Online check-in is free. It opens 60 days before departure if you’ve paid for a reserved seat, or 24 hours before if you’re on free random seat allocation, and closes roughly 2 hours before the flight. Ryanair expects essentially everyone to use it — check-in kiosks and desks at the airport aren’t a default option.

Turn up without having checked in online and you’ll pay a £55 airport check-in fee, on top of getting your boarding pass printed at the desk rather than on your phone. There are limited exceptions (some accessibility cases, a handful of routes with local rules), but for the overwhelming majority of passengers, checking in online the moment it opens is the single easiest fee to avoid on this entire list.

Name changes and booking corrections

Typos happen, and Ryanair prices fixing them steeply on purpose.

• Minor correction (up to 3 characters, or swapping first/last name order) within 48 hours of booking — free, done yourself in Manage My Booking.
• Full name change or correction after that window — £115 per passenger online, rising to £160 if you have to do it through the contact centre or an airport desk.

The lesson is the same every time: check the passenger names against the passport the second the booking confirmation lands, not the week before you fly.

Flight date and time changes

Need to move a flight to a different date or time? It’s £45 per passenger, per one-way flight, done online, or £60 if you have to call or go to a desk. On top of that fee you also pay any difference between your original fare and add-ons and whatever the new flight is currently selling for — so a flight change close to a peak date can cost far more than the £45-£60 headline suggests.

Ryanair gives a 24-hour grace period from the moment you book to fix genuine date or time mistakes for free — worth using immediately if you’ve booked the wrong day by accident, rather than waiting and paying the standard fee later.

Refunds and cancellations

Cancelling a Ryanair booking yourself doesn’t get you your fare back. Non-flexible fares are non-refundable beyond the government taxes and charges portion, which Ryanair will return on request — and that’s it, don’t expect more. If Ryanair cancels or significantly delays the flight itself, UK/EU261 compensation and rerouting rules apply instead, which is a different and much better-protected situation than a voluntary cancellation.

Payment and admin fees

Ryanair no longer applies the flat £6 admin fee it charged years ago. Instead, card payments carry a small percentage-based card payment fee, calculated on the transaction value and shown before you confirm payment. The exact percentage depends on the card type and where it was issued, and I’ve stopped trying to guess it in advance — it moves around too much. There’s no way to avoid it entirely since Ryanair doesn’t accept cash, but at least it’s shown at checkout rather than sprung on you afterward.

Infant and family fees

Travelling with a lap infant under 2 costs £25 one-way, added when you book, covering the infant’s seat on your lap for the flight. A return trip costs £50 total (£25 each way), since the charge applies per flight sector rather than per booking. Infants get the free 45 x 35 x 20 cm baby bag on top of your own allowance, and the seating algorithm keeps family groups together without a specific paid add-on in most cases (see the seat selection section above).

Extras: fast track, insurance and more

Fast Track security skips the standard queue at airports where it’s offered — not every airport has it. Where available, it’s a modest add-on, roughly a fiver to £12 depending on the airport, and it’s included automatically in the Flexi Plus fare bundle.

Travel insurance is offered as a checkout add-on, roughly £10-£17 for a week in Europe for an adult in their thirties, rising sharply for older travellers or trips outside Europe. It’s worth comparing against a standalone annual policy before you buy it reflexively at checkout — for anyone flying more than two or three times a year, an annual multi-trip policy from a specialist insurer is usually cheaper overall.

How to avoid paying fees you don’t need to

Check in online the moment it opens. Free versus £55 at the airport isn’t a close call.

Decide on Priority and checked bags while you’re still booking, not after. Every add-on on this list is cheaper bought during the original transaction than added later, and the gap is often double.

A £10 luggage scale and a tape measure will save you the £70-£75 gate fee, easily. Measure the bag before you leave the house, not when you’re already at the sizer. The Ryanair cabin bag size rules cover what the gate sizers actually enforce.

Fix names the day you book. The 48-hour free correction window closes fast, and the fee afterward starts at £115.

Book seats early if you actually want them, or don’t bother — prices only move one direction as departure gets closer.

And for short trips, weigh up a checked bag against Priority. If you don’t need the queue skip, checking a bag can work out cheaper once you’re carrying more than the free personal bag allows. I’ve run the numbers both ways in is Ryanair Priority Boarding worth it?.

Ryanair fees FAQ

What’s the most expensive fee Ryanair charges?

Name changes made through the contact centre or at the airport, at £160 per passenger, are the steepest single fee on the list — followed by the gate fee for an oversized or non-compliant cabin bag at £70-£75, and the airport check-in fee at £55.

How much does Ryanair checked baggage cost in 2026?

It depends on the weight tier and when you buy. The 20kg tier, the most commonly booked, typically starts around £20-£25 at booking and rises past £40 if added later or at the airport. Excess weight beyond your tier costs £13 per kilogram at the airport, with a hard cap of 32kg per bag.

Does Ryanair charge to check in?

Online check-in is free. Skip it and check in at the airport instead and you’ll pay £55. Ryanair expects almost everyone to check in online, and the desk isn’t set up as a routine alternative.

How much is Ryanair’s name change fee?

£115 per passenger if done yourself online, £160 if done through the contact centre or an airport desk. Minor corrections — up to three characters, or swapping first and last name order — are free if made within 48 hours of the original booking.

Can I avoid Ryanair’s card payment fee?

Not entirely — Ryanair doesn’t accept cash payments for online bookings, and the percentage-based card fee applies to card transactions. The rate varies by card type and issuing country and is shown at checkout before you confirm payment.

Is Ryanair seat selection compulsory?

No. If you don’t pay for a seat, Ryanair assigns one automatically at check-in, at no extra cost. Paying only gets you a specific, chosen seat rather than a random assignment.

How much does it cost to change a Ryanair flight?

£45 per passenger online, or £60 through the contact centre or airport desk, plus any difference between your original fare and add-ons and the price of the new flight at the time you change it.

What happens if my cabin bag is oversized at the gate?

If you haven’t bought Priority, you’ll pay a £70-£75 gate fee and the bag goes in the hold. Priority itself can’t be bought at the gate — it has to be added at booking or beforehand through Manage My Booking.

Does Ryanair charge for infants?

Yes — £25 one-way per infant under 2, covering a lap seat for the flight. A return journey is £50 total, since it’s charged per flight sector. The infant’s own baby bag (45 x 35 x 20 cm, 5kg) is free and separate from your own allowance.

The bottom line

Nearly every fee on this list has the same shape: cheap if you sort it at booking, expensive if you leave it until later, and painful if you leave it until the gate. The base fare really is just a seat. Everything else is a choice, and the price of that choice depends entirely on when you make it.

Decide what you actually need (a bigger bag, a chosen seat, nothing at all) while you’re still in the booking flow with a coffee and five minutes to think. That version costs £6-£45. The version at the gate costs £55-£160. Same add-ons, wildly different bill.

For the underlying baggage rules this list builds on, see the Ryanair Baggage Allowance guide, or the Ryanair hub for everything about the airline in one place.