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Airport staff are earning cash bonuses for every easyJet passenger they spot travelling with an oversized bag, according to a leaked email.
Staff at Swissport, an aviation company that operates passenger gates at airports, are “eligible to receive £1.20 (£1 after tax) for every gate bag taken”, according to the message sent to staff at seven airports in the UK and the Channel Islands, including Birmingham, Glasgow, Jersey and Newcastle.
The payments are to “reward agents doing the right thing”, according to the email explaining the “easyJet gate bag revenue incentive” scheme.
For staff concerned about meeting targets, “internal tracking will be used to identify opportunities for further support and training for individual agents, but will not be used negatively”, it said. The email and its contents was first reported by the Jersey Evening Post.
It also emerged that ground handlers employed by another aviation firm, DHL Supply Chain, at Gatwick, Bristol and Manchester airports are also paid extra for identifying non-compliant easyJet bags. The employees receive “a nominal amount” for each bag, the Sunday Times reported.
Swissport ground handlers earn about £12 an hour. One former Swissport passenger service manager, speaking on condition of anonymity, told the Sunday Times they had no choice but to police the line on oversized baggage.
“Confronting people with excess baggage is like taking on fare dodgers,” he said. “You risk abuse or worse – imagine stopping a group of lads on a stag weekend and telling them I’m going to have to charge you more than you paid for your tickets to check those bags into the hold.”
EasyJet allows passengers to take a small bag that fits under their seat for free. Larger bags can be stored in overhead lockers for an additional fee, which starts from £5.99, depending on the flight. But if an oversized cabin bag is confiscated at the gate, the passenger is charged £48 to stow it in the hold.
The email was sent by a Swissport manager in November 2023 but the policy remains in force today. Payments relating to the scheme are paid directly to employees, it advised.
Swissport said: “We serve our airline customers and apply their policies under terms and conditions for managing their operation. We’re highly professional and our focus is on delivering safe and efficient operations, which we do day in and day out for 4m flights per year.”
EasyJet said it used different ground handling agents at different airports and they managed remuneration directly without its oversight.
The airline said: “EasyJet is focused on ensuring our ground handling partners apply our policies correctly and consistently in fairness to all our customers.
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“Our bag policies and options are well understood and we remind customers of this when booking, before they travel and on their boarding pass, which means a very small proportion of customers who don’t comply will be charged at the airport.”
Ryanair says it does not offer a financial incentive to Swissport staff at its gates but did not confirm whether it offered incentives to other operators.
That staff are incentivised to confiscate bags is likely to anger passengers and comes amid calls for hand baggage fees to be scrapped altogether.
Last month, the transport committee of the European parliament voted to give passengers the right to an extra piece of free hand luggage weighing up to 7kg.
Under the proposed new rule, travellers could carry on a cabin bag measuring up to 100cm (based on the sum of the dimensions), as well a personal bag, at no additional cost.
The law requires approval from 55% of EU member states, and if adopted it would extend to all flights within the EU as well as routes to and from the EU.
