I've flown RyanAir many, many, many times and never had a problem (except once in Gatwick) with carrying on my 10kg (or less) backpack and a purse. However, it's been a few months since I've flown with them and have heard that they no longer allow a personal item and they require that you check your backpack. Has anyone experienced this and just how strict are they being with it? More importantly, how strict are they being on carry-on backpacks? We're flying RyanAir to Italy in a few weeks and I want to know if I should suck it up and pay the checked baggage fee now (it's cheaper in advance) or try to carry-on.
Thanks for your help!