RYANAIR’S outspoken chief executive Michael O’Leary has vowed to wage a war on passengers ‘scamming the system’ as he announced plans to increase a bonus handed out to staff who spot oversized luggage.
“We should encourage people. I want our ground handling people to be catching people who are scamming the system,” O’Leary said at a press conference in London last week.
“I am still mystified by the number of people with rucksacks who think they are going to get through the f***ing gate and we won’t notice. We will – and you will be paying for the rucksack,” he added in a typically unrepentant manner.
Ryanair will pay airport staff €2.50 for every oversized carry-on bag they spot, O’Leary said, up from the current rate of €1.50.
The low-cost airline will also remove a monthly cap on the bonuses, currently set at €80.
Customers are allowed to take a small bag (40cm x 20cm x 25cm) that fits under the seat in front for free, but must pay an additional fee for larger carry-on bags.
Passengers who are caught out with cases that exceed the stipulated measurements are whacked with fines of up to €75 per bag – with over 200,000 passengers falling foul of the rules every year.
READ MORE: Easyjet staff at UK airports get cash bonus for spotting oversized luggage
“We’re not trying to catch people out here,” O’Leary insisted. “Most people, 99.9% of our passengers, comply with the rules. The amount of people who pay a gate bag fee is less than 0.1% of our passengers, and that’s still 200,000 passengers a year.
“So we have more work to do to get rid of them, but the numbers who are paying a gate fee is tiny. They get a disproportionate amount of news or of coverage but frankly we don’t really care.
“Keep covering it because we want everybody to comply with the rules, if you comply with the rules, no issues.
“We are running a very efficient, very affordable, very low-cost airline, and we’re not letting anybody get in the way.”
The move follows in the footsteps of low-cost competitors easyJet, after it was revealed that airport staff were able to earn cash bonuses of £1.20 for every passenger they spotted with an oversized bag.
Last week, Ryanair doubled down on a threat to cut almost one million seats from regional Spanish airports next summer in a showdown over soaring airport charges.
CEO Eddie Wilson told reporters the airline had no choice but to slash capacity after Aena, Spain’s state-backed airport manager, announced a 6.5% hike in passengers fees for 2026 – the highest increase in a decade.
“It seems the government is happy to let these airports rot,” Wilson said as he slammed Aena for failing to incentivise airlines to use under-utilised regional airports.
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