Stop people with oversized hand luggage – and get paid extra. That's Ryanair's message to staff.
"I make absolutely no apologies for that," says the airline's CEO Michael O'Leary, according to The Guardian.
Anyone who flies with the low-cost airline Ryanair Every now and then you know that at the gate you may have to show how big your carry-on bag is. In order for it to pass through security, it needs to fit in a kind of rack with dimensions that correspond to a cabin bag.
And if it doesn't fit, you have to pay extra to check in your luggage.
Ryanair's staff bonus
Ryanair pays bonuses to its staff who spot people with oversized bags. And this autumn the airline intends to increase the compensation – from €1.50 (16.60 SEK) to €2.50 (27.70 SEK), for each hand luggage that does not meet the dimensions requirements, writes The Guardian.
The airline will also remove its bonus cap of 80 euros per month per person, in order to "encourage" its staff.
– I want our ground staff to catch people who are cheating the system, says Ryanair CEO Michael O'Leary according to The Guardian.
Larger hand luggage at SAS
On Ryanair flights, you are allowed to bring a small bag, no more than 40x30x20 centimeters, which can fit under the seat, at no extra charge. If you want to bring more than that, you can pay a fee and then bring a hand luggage bag no more than 55x40x20 centimeters into the cabin.
This can be compared to today's IATA standard, a voluntary agreement between airlines, which is that hand luggage may be a maximum of 56x45x25 centimeters. SAS and Norwegian, for example, have 55x40x23 centimeters.
”More work to do”
Michael O'Leary believes that concerns about having to pay extra for hand luggage are exaggerated, and that those who have to do so receive a "disproportionate" amount of attention. The CEO states that the majority of Ryanair customers follow the rules, and that as long as they do so, "there are no problems.".
– The number of people who pay a baggage fee at the gate is 0.1 percent of our passengers, but that's still 200,000 people in a year so we have more work to do to get rid of them.
Source: Expressen.se
