Ryanair to increase oversized bag bonus

The bonus for Ryanair workers who intercept passengers with oversized cabin bags will rise from €1.50 to €2.50 per bag, the airline’s boss said.

Michael O’Leary told the BBC the change would come in this November, and that he made no apology for it.

Mr O’Leary said the bonus was meant to put off the small minority who brought cabin bags which were bigger than the size limit, insisting the airline was “not trying to catch people out”.

He added that if people “don’t comply with the rules and try to get on with an outsize bag, we will catch you and I would look forward to rewarding and bonusing our staff that pick out those oversize bags”.

Ryanair passengers are allowed a free bag to take on board, but can be charged up to £75 they try to bring a larger bag than allowed onto a flight, depending on the route and travel date.

The airline currently allows a small carry-on bag – with a size capped at 40cm x 20cm x 25cm and weight of 10kg – with every ticket.

However, this is set to increase to 40cm x 30cm x 20cm from September after a change in EU rules.

Mr O’Leary said about 200,000 passengers per year have to pay extra to put carry-on luggage in the hold, and that he did not feel sorry for “chancers” trying bring “rucksacks” aboard.

“We’re the airline with the lowest air fares in Europe,” he said. “Those are our rules. Please comply with the rules, as 99.9% of our 200 million passengers do, and you won’t have any problem.”

He said if people “comply with the bag rules then everyone will board faster” and there will be “fewer flight delays”.

In addition to increasing the bonus per bag, Ryanair is scrapping an €80 cap on how much staff can earn each month for catching people with bags that are too large.

The Ryanair chief executive also said he wanted “ground handlers to catch people who are scamming the system”.

Mr O’Leary, who has previously voiced scepticism about sustainable aviation fuel (SAF), said there was “not a hope in hell” of the UK’s SAF mandate of 10% being met by 2030.

He said Ryanair would not be increasing how much SAF it used because supply “is not there”, and described SAF as “nonsense”.

The mandate starts in 2025 at 2% of total UK jet fuel demand, increasing to 10% in 2030 and then to 22% in 2040.

Mr O’Leary said sustainability targets for aviation are “dying a death”, with the sector set to miss both 2030 targets for sustainable aviation fuel and a 2050 net zero mandate.

“Over the next 10 years, I believe oil prices will fall materially,” he added.