Question for those with Ryanair experience

RyanAir is known to be a very by-the-book airline. It is notorious. You should assume that it will enforce the letter of its baggage regulations. I assume there will be a sizing box at the gate, and if your bag doesn't fit in that sizing box you'll be forced to pay a substantial fee.

Here is RyanAir's fee menu: https://www.ryanair.com/us/en/useful-info/help-centre/fees . Note that if you make a mistake entering your name when you buy your ticket, it will cost you at least £115 to fix the error. This is not a customer-friendly airline you are dealing with.

Before our Ryanair flight we received several emails detailing all rules and regulations which was quite helpful. I think your backpack will be ok but check with airline.

Do Rick Steves wheeled carryon bags fit into Ryanair's box? Anyone have any experience with them?

Do Rick Steves wheeled carryon bags fit into Ryanair's box?

Haven't personally tried one, but it may not fit. RS sells several wheeled bags. The "rolling carry on" bag is 21" x 14" x 9" (including wheels) according to the RS website. Ryanair limits a carry-on bag to 55 x 40 x 20 cm which is 21.7 x 15.7 x 7.9 in So one dimension appears to be over. Whether it can be squeezed to fit depends on where that 9" is (eg. if the 9" is the thickness of the bag and not the width of the wheels, which can't be squeezed). Best to call the RS store and ask, or measure if you already have the bag.

Note the 21.7 x 15.7 x 7.9 in size is if you have purchased Priority & 2 Cabin Bags, which they say "gives customers the benefit of boarding the plane via the Priority Queue and carrying their small personal bag (40x20x25cm) and 10kg wheelie bag (55x40x20cm) with them on board. " Can't emphasize this enough. Without this extra you only get the small personal bag.

Lastly, note that 2nd limit of 10kg, which is 22 lbs. That is not very much weight (the RS bag alone is 6.5lbs) so it would be wise to do a trial packing and make sure you are under. They are eying bags and if they think yours might be heavy they'll weigh and if it doesn't qualify they'll make you buy their 20kg checked bag at the walkup price. That assumes they have room and time; otherwise you're leaving it behind. As pointed out by previous posters, budget carriers and especially Ryanair enforce the rules. I've been on so many US domestic flights where people lug on 2 or 3 bags when they're only allowed one carryon and a personal item, nobody bats an eye. That's not going to happen on Ryanair. You can have a good experience and cheap flight with them, just be sure to follow each and every rule. Personally we prefer EasyJet instead; also strict, but they don't seem to get as many complaints as Ryanair

John, every word you wrote is exactly right about RyanAir. They are extremely strict and make zero allowances, ever. Anyone tempted to fly with them needs to understand every rule and able to follow them to the letter.
We flew RyanAir once, everything went well but customer friendly they most certainly are not.