Scots airport staff paid bonuses for catching passengers breaking airline's luggage rules
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SCOTTISH airport staff are being paid extra cash for catching passengers with oversized cabin bags.
Workers at Swissport, who run gates at airports across the country, were given the baggage bonuses for catching easyJet punters trying to pull a fly one with their carry on luggage.
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The extra cash was paid to staff trying to break easyJet's baggage rules
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Easyjet's baggage rules allow flyers to have one small bag for free and they have to pay for a large cabin bag
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The policy was rolled out at Glasgow Airport
Credit: John Kirkby - The Sun Glasgow
The extra cash is being paid for bags taken off passengers at the gate.
Extra money is paid to workers who take bags off punters who either haven't paid for a cabin bag or people trying to take on a bag too big to be a carry on.
An email, seen by The Sunday Times, told Swissport staff about the 'easyJet gate bag revenue incentive' and was sent to workers in November 2023.
The scheme was rolled out at Glasgow, Belfast, Birmingham, Jersey, Liverpool and Newcastle Airports.
Staff are paid an extra £1.20 for every bag they stop getting on the plane.
The email said Swissport crews are 'eligible to receive £1.20 (£1 after tax) for every gate bag taken, effective immediately' and said the policy is 'intended to reward agents doing the right thing'.
It was signed off saying: 'Thank you for your ongoing contribution to the success of easyJet'.
EasyJet currently allows every passenger to bring on one bag that fits under the seat in front for free.
Larger cabin bags have to be booked in advance and cost anything upwards of £5.99.
But if punters will also be charged a £48 airport bag fee if they get caught with an oversized bag or if they try to get a bag onboard they haven't paid for.
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One Swissport worker (who only earn £12 per hour) told The Times: 'Confronting people with excess baggage is like taking on fare dodgers.
'You risk abuse or worse — imagine stopping a group of lads on a stag weekend and telling them, 'I'm going to have to charge you more than you paid for your tickets to check those bags into the hold'.'
A Swissport spokesperson said: 'We serve our airline customers and apply their policies under terms and conditions for managing their operation.
"We're highly professional and our focus is on delivering safe and efficient operations, which we do day in and day out for four million flights per year.'
An easyJet spokesperson added: '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.'
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