US Politics
Ryanair looks to increase staff bonus for spotting oversized bags
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Ryanair is considering boosting the incentive for its cabin crew to identify oversized passenger luggage, its chief executive has revealed.
Currently, staff receive at the low-cast airline about €1.50 (£1.30) for each instance of intercepting customers with larger-than-permitted bags, with a reported monthly cap of around €80 (£70) per employee.
Passengers found with luggage exceeding their paid allowance face a charge of up to €75 (£65).
The airline presently includes a small carry-on bag, measuring up to 40x20x25cm and weighing 10kg, with every ticket.
Following an agreement among European airlines to adopt a new minimum size for cabin luggage, the carrier has decided to increase one dimension of the bag size from 25 to 30cm in the coming weeks. The dimensions will soon be 40 x 30 x 20cm – a volume of 24 litres.
However, customers wishing to bring larger items or multiple bags must pay an additional fee.
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Ryanair boss Michael O’Leary said on Monday that summer fares would, on average, be the same rate as 2023.
However, he added that he expects a boost in profitability for the airline by “controlling costs”.
Members of the European Parliament are pushing for airlines to allow passengers to be allowed to bring an on-board personal item and small hand luggage for free.
However, Mr O’Leary predicted the proposal will not come into law due to a lack of space.
Speaking to the business news on RTE’s Morning Ireland, he said: “We’re flying largely full flights, about half the passengers can bring two bags and the other half can only bring one – because that’s all that fits in the plane.
“We’re already struggling with that amount of baggage.
“That’s one of the reasons we are so aggressive about eliminating the scourge of passengers with excess baggage.”
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Mr O’Leary said more than 99.9 per cent of passengers comply with baggage rules, and “sizers” are located within airports.
“We are happy to incentivise our (staff) with a share of those excess baggage fees, which we think will decline over the coming year or two,” he said.
“It is about €1.50 per bag – and we’re thinking of increasing it, so we eliminate (excess baggage).”
Meanwhile, Mr O’Leary predicted that US President Donald Trump will “chicken out” of introducing increased tariffs for Europe on 1 August.
Asked if he anticipated tariffs applying to Boeing aircraft being delivered to the airline, he said: “Trump will probably chicken out again, I suspect the August 1 will get moved to September or October.
“We have taken delivery of five aircraft in the first quarter but no tariffs applied to those aircraft.
“There is a risk of tariffs being introduced by the Europeans or the Americans in some tit-for-tat in August, September or October – but Boeing will have to pay those tariffs.”
Mr O’Leary said Ryanair would work with Boeing to ensure no tariffs are applied to commercial aircraft, which he said would be bad for the manufacturer’s exports to Europe as well as Airbus’s sales to the US – as well as the Irish aircraft leasing industry.
