A woman at the Lima airport gate was stuffing half her suitcase into a garbage bag. JetSMART wanted $52 for her excess baggage. I was standing right there with my 7 kg backpack, and for the first time it really clicked: less stuff isn't a sacrifice. It's freedom.
My friend Marco got charged 46 euros at the Ryanair gate last month. His weekender bag was three centimeters too deep. Three. He'd bought the thing specifically for this trip, and the Amazon listing even said "carry-on compatible." It wasn't.
You're flying to Lisbon on Friday. Ryanair. Which weekender bag do you grab without paying a EUR 20 baggage fee?
The German government just handed airlines a 350 million euro annual tax break. Starting July 1, 2026, the Luftverkehrssteuer (Germany's aviation tax) drops back to pre-May 2024 levels. Chancellor Friedrich Merz and his CDU/CSU-SPD coalition are fully rolling back the tax hike from two years ago.
42% of German travelers have paid unexpected baggage fees. Not a typo. Almost half. According to an AirHelp survey, 83% find baggage rules stressful. Honestly, I get it.
On March 30, 2026, a Ryanair plane touched down at Saarbruecken airport for the very first time. The flight came from Trapani, Sicily. Arrived at 08:20, turned around at 08:45.
55x40x20 on Lufthansa. 40x25x20 on Ryanair. 56x45x25 on Turkish Airlines. Every airline plays by its own rules, and honestly, I've stopped trying to remember which numbers belong where.
Mallorca, 2023. Our son, three years old at the time, dumps his entire apple juice on my lap. Full cup. We're 30 minutes into the flight. I grab the backpack in a panic. Spare clothes? In the checked luggage, of course. 300 kilometers below us.
Monday morning, 6:47 AM, Terminal 2, Munich Airport. My backpack weighs 9.8 kg. Four weeks of work, three countries, zero checked luggage. I walk straight past the check-in queue, through security, and I'm at my gate in 22 minutes.
Bangkok, Hanoi, Siem Reap. Five airlines, three countries, zero checked bags. I did it. And it was simultaneously the best and dumbest travel decision I've ever made.
94 percent. That's how many Eurowings pilots voted in favor of strike action in a formal ballot, with 82% turnout. The pilots' union Vereinigung Cockpit announced the result on March 17, 2026. No strike date has been set yet. But the Easter holidays starting March 30? Those are very much at risk.
Last month I watched a woman at the Ryanair gate in Dublin argue with ground staff for six minutes. Her weekender bag was gorgeous. Cream leather, brass hardware, packed perfectly. It was also 55x40x20 cm. Without Priority boarding, Ryanair only allows 40x30x20 cm. She paid EUR 50 at the gate to...
