Low-cost airline EasyJet has been paying UK airport staff extra money to spot oversized cabin baggage and ensure items are checked in to the hold, a procedure which usually costs passengers an extra £48 (around €55).
The incentive payments have been going on for at least two years at seven airports around the country, at Belfast, Birmingham, Glasgow, Jersey, Liverpool, and Newcastle. The scheme was revealed by The Sunday Times, whose reporters saw internal emails dating back to 2023 sent to staff at ground handling firm Swissport. The memo, signed by Glasgow’s Swissport station manager Dean Martin, informed staff they were “eligible to receive £1.20 (£1 after tax) for every gate bag taken, effective immediately.”
@jakehughesss easyjet staff made me delete all of this footage or i wasnt allowed to board… loll #viral ♬ original sound – Jake Hughes
Framed as a reward for “doing the right thing”, the bonus payment represents around 10% of the handlers’ £12.00 hourly wage (just under €14), meaning the workers can make a small but significant difference to their take-home pay by challenging passengers with oversized hand luggage, even though they do so at risk of abuse from those travelling, one ground handler told The Sunday Times.
Other companies responsible for airport luggage also follow the same policy and receive incentives from easyJet. DHL Supply Chain, which services Bristol, Gatwick, and Manchester airports, the newspaper reported. Speaking to The Independent, a spokesperson for DHL argued the policy helps to create a consistent and seamless experience for flyers. It described its staff as “fully committed to ensuring the safety, security, and on-time departure of all aircraft. A critical component of this is adherence to the easyJet Baggage Policy, which plays a vital role in maintaining an efficient operation as well as passenger safety.”
Hi Grant. We ask our bag drop and gate agents to be proactive in identifying bags which may fall outside our baggage allowance policy. There would be an oversized cabin bag charge if the carry on luggage is not within the dimensions required. (1/2)
— easyJet (@easyJet) February 7, 2024
EasyJet, meanwhile, explained: “EasyJet is focused on ensuring our ground handling partners apply our policies correctly and consistently in fairness to all our customers.” The budget carriers continued: “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.”
The revelation of the incentive payments is unlikely to make the handlers’ jobs easier, due to public perceptions that some airlines abuse baggage terms and conditions to make extra profits from passengers. European legislators recently moved to make permitted bag sizes more consistent across different carriers, leading Ryanair to increase its hand luggage parameters by 20%.
