Ryanair has said it is considering increasing the commission it pays to staff who identify oversized bags at boarding gates as it works to “eliminate the scourge” caused by a “tiny number of passengers who don’t abide by” its rules.
This weekend it emerged that the airline pays bonuses to staff who identify passengers who are required to check in bags deemed too large for the cabins.
Staff are paid €1.50 per oversized bag they detect, with the bonus capped at €80 per month.
The airline charges cost passengers €75 for each bag deemed too large at the gates and subsequently checked into the hold.
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A spokeswoman for Ryanair told The Irish Times the bonuses have been in place “for some years as we work to eliminate the scourge of excess bags and the tiny number of passengers who don’t abide by our rules”.
She said passengers who followed the rules were angered by those who are “showing up at the gate with rucksacks trying to game” the system.
She added that more than 99.9 per cent of Ryanair passengers “never pay these fines because they abide by our simple rules; if it fits in our sizers, it gets on, if it doesn’t, the passenger pays”.
She said the airline was “currently looking at increasing our bag commissions to try to get rid of these excess bags, which delay boarding and annoy our other passengers”.
In recent months, this newspaper has highlighted the experiences of many passengers who have been hit with unexpected charges at boarding gates after their bags – often bags they have used many times without issue – were deemed to be too big for the airline’s sizers.
Ryanair has insisted there have been no changes to how it polices carry-on luggage for many years.
There are changes coming down the tracks in the months ahead, however.
As it stands, passengers can bring a free bag measuring 40x25x20cm on board and place it under the seat in front of them.
Under planned changes, the size of the bags permitted will increase to 40x30x20cm. That amounts to an extra 5cm along one side.
The enhanced size should allow passengers to bring a couple of extra T-shirts or maybe three pairs of rolled-up socks on to the plane with them.
The airline’s chief executive Michael O’Leary has said it might even stretch to an additional pair of trousers, too.
The on-board baggage allowances of all airlines have been under scrutiny by lawmakers in the EU of late, with members of the European Parliament pushing for changes that would force airlines to allow passengers to carry on two cabin bags at no cost.
The European Commission has not gone that far, but it has agreed a standard size for a small bag: 40x30x15cm. Mr O’Leary has said Ryanair wants “our personal baggage allowance, our free bag allowance to be bigger than the EU standard so we’re moving ours up. We want you to have a big free bag but limit yourself to that one free bag and don’t bring a second one”.
