'I used a bin bag to dodge a £59 Ryanair fine'

A mum-of-three boarded a flight despite refusing to pay the baggage charge by ditching her suitcase for a bin bag. Natalie Sadler, 43, was boarding her flight from Palma de Mallorca to on May 20 and has claimed she was asked by a member of staff to place her suitcase in the baggage sizer.

Ms Sadler had purchased priority boarding for her family holiday to Magaluf on the and was entitled to a (40x20x25cm) and a 1-kilo bag (55x40x20cm). She admitted her suitcase was a "thumbnail" too big. She has claimed a Ryanair staff member then told her she would need to pay €70 (£59) to take the bag on the flight, or she would not be able to board.

Ms Sadler said she refused to pay the fee because the staff member was "rude". She then headed to the nearest bar at the boarding gate and asked them for a bin bag. She proceeded to empty everything from her into the blue bin bag, leaving her case behind. She then boarded the plane and placed it in the overhead locker, while other passengers applauded.

"It [the suitcase] was literally a thumbnail too wide and the wheel was slightly out so I'm not going to dispute that. She [a Ryanair staff member] was like, 'if you don't pay Euro 70 you'll get a new flight home. I'll send the flight without you.'

"It wasn't the money, it was the principle at this point because she was so rude. But I said to my husband, 'open the case' and I ran over to where the bar was near the boarding gate and I went, 'have you got a bin bag?'

"I opened the case at the door for boarding and she [the Ryanair staff member] was stood next to me and I filled the bag with everything out of the case. I flung it over my shoulder like Santa and I just went 'there you go, you can keep that'.

"And off I went onto the . When I got on everyone was clapping, it was hilarious, it was so funny. Everyone was just laughing. They were clapping as I walked on with this bag.

"I couldn't get down the aisle because it was so big. Everyone found it highly amusing. I told them [the passengers] there was no way after the way she spoke to me was I giving her any of my money. Not a chance."

Ms Sadler claimed she flew to on Ryanair just seven days prior with the same suitcase and experienced no problems. The brand new suitcase Natalie left behind was a gift from her parents.

"I was quite happy to forfeit the suitcase. It's just a suitcase, it's not the end of the world. I was like, 'I'm not leaving all my clothes, what am I going to put it in?

"I felt like I'd just gotten out of jail. I'll definitely buy another suitcase however I will double check the sizes. I don't want to go through this again. I don't want to be wasting all my nice luggage. The suitcase is only £45 new so I wasn't going to pay Euro 70.

"I needed to solve my problem. I'm a fixer and I fixed the problem. I was fuming. I just had to laugh it off, as much as I was annoyed, it's a suitcase, no one died.

"They [Ryanair staff] just kept looking but said nothing despite the bag being bigger than the case at that point. It is absolutely ridiculous but I'm glad I stood my ground. There's so many people who would have just gone, 'get the card out, pay them.'"

, which has claimed the worker involved was from a third party assigned to deal with baggage, said in a statement: "Ryanair's bag policy is simple; if the bag fits in our bag sizer, which is bigger than our agreed dimensions, it gets on free of charge. If the bag doesn't fit within our sizer, it will get charged for. This passenger's bag exceeded the permitted dimensions, and they chose to repack their items in an alternative bag that would fit the sizer instead.

"There is a very simple solution to this, which is that passengers simply comply with their agreement at the time of booking and travel with bags that fit or are smaller than our agreed bag dimensions."