Ryanair passengers are no longer able to take two cabin bags on board flights free of charge.

New rules implemented by the airline on Monday means larger hand luggage such as wheelie bags are being placed in the hold at the boarding gate.

Smaller bags – which can be the size of a handbag or laptop bag – are still allowed in the cabin.

Only passengers who pay for priority boarding from £5 can take larger items of hand luggage into the cabin.

The policy means many more travellers are having to wait at airport carousels to collect bags on arrival.

Ryanair has also lowered the price of flying with a check-in bag from £35 to £25, and increased the weight allowance from 15kg to 20kg.

Chief marketing officer Kenny Jacobs said the change was “implemented successfully”.

He believes the new policy will speed up boarding and reduce delays caused by passengers struggling to cram bags into overhead lockers.

Ryanair estimates the reduced cost of check-in bags will cost it up to 50 million euro (£45 million) each year.

The new rules were greeted with a mixed response by Twitter users.

Hannah Beagley accused Ryanair of going “out of your way to make things difficult for your customers”, while Jonny Lavery claimed a suitable motto for the Dublin-based carrier would now be: “Low fares. Made extremely complicated.”

But Gareth J Bond described the hand luggage rules as “long overdue”, adding that the changes have been “clear on website for months”.

Tara Shears posted: “That feeling when you realise your 13 inch laptop is slightly bigger than @ryanair’s new cabin bag policy.”