Airport workers across the UK are being rewarded with extra pay for catching passengers attempting to board planes with oversized carry-on luggage.
Employees at Swissport, the company managing boarding gates at multiple airports across the UK, have been given an extra incentive to catch easyJet travellers trying to sneak bags larger than the regulated size limit onto flights without paying the necessary baggage fees.
The bonus is their airport staff who remove unauthorised bags at the gate, the staff look out for either passengers who haven’t paid for a cabin bag or bags that exceed the airline’s carry-on size limit.
An internal email which was seen by The Sunday Times revealed details of the “easyJet gate bag revenue incentive,” which was sent to Swissport employees in November 2023.
The scheme is active at several airports including Glasgow, Belfast, Birmingham, Jersey, Liverpool and Newcastle.
For every oversized or unpaid bag taken for a passenger at the gate, staff receive a bonus of £1.20, equivalent to £1 after tax, the email stated crew are “eligible to receive £1.20 (£1 after tax) for every gate bag taken, effective immediately.”
The email to all Swissport workers explained the bonus is “intended to reward agents doing the right thing.” It was then signed off thanking staff, as it stated: “Thank you for your ongoing contribution to the success of easyJet.”
Currently easyJet allows each passenger to bring one small bag on board free of charge, as long as it fits under the seat ahead. While larger cabin bags must be pre-booked, with prices starting from £5.99.
However, passengers caught trying to board with an oversized bag or without paying the cabin bag fee face a steep £48 airport charge.
Speaking to The Times, a Swissport worker who earns £12 per hour, said: “Confronting people with excess baggage is like taking on fare dodgers. 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’.”
A spokesperson for Swissport explained that the company were just doing their job, saying: “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 four million flights per year.”
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While an easyJet spokesperson added: “EasyJet is focused on ensuring our ground handling partners apply our policies correctly and consistently in fairness to all our customers.”
“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.”
