Airport staff are receiving bonuses for catching easyJet passengers with oversized cabin bags, a leaked email has revealed.
The email, sent to employees of Swissport, which operates passenger gates at several UK airports, confirmed staff would receive £1.20 (£1 after tax) for every "gate bag" deemed too large to take on board without extra payment.
This controversial "easyJet gate bag revenue incentive" is currently active, rewarding gate agents for enforcing baggage restrictions at airports including Belfast, Birmingham, Glasgow, Jersey, Liverpool, and Newcastle.
The scheme aims to "reward agents doing the right thing" by directly paying employees, according to the internal message seen by the Sunday Times and signed by Dean Martin, a Swissport station manager at Glasgow Airport.
Similar bonus arrangements are also in place at other airports. Employees of DHL Supply Chain, which operates gates for easyJet at Gatwick, Bristol, and Manchester, reportedly receive a "nominal amount" for each oversized bag they spot.
EasyJet passengers are allowed one small bag onboard for free, but larger cabin bags must be paid for, with fees ranging from £5.99 to nearly £33 depending on the route. Travellers caught at the gate with an unpaid oversized bag face a £48 charge, of which £1.20 goes directly into the pockets of airport staff.
Passengers have frequently complained about aggressive enforcement and inconsistent sizing, claiming they are sometimes charged even when their bags fit into official size-check frames.
Ground staff enforcing these rules are employed by third-party handling companies, which vary between airports. These companies independently manage employee pay and incentive schemes, meaning easyJet itself is not involved in, nor responsible for, how bonuses are issued.
A Swissport spokesperson emphasised that the company follows airline policies as agreed, stating their priority is "professionalism and delivering safe, efficient operations across millions of flights each year."
An easyJet spokeswoman said: “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.”
Meanwhile, rival airline Ryanair has announced it will soon increase the size of its free "personal bag" allowance.
The budget carrier currently allows passengers a small bag measuring 40x20x25cm, but this is set to increase by 20 per cent to 40x30x20cm following new EU regulations requiring airlines to offer a minimum free baggage size of 40x30x15cm.
The updated baggage allowance will come into effect within weeks, once Ryanair updates its bag-sizing equipment.
