News that Ryanair’s baggage “police” are to be offered additional rewards may well send a shiver down the spine of many passengers.
Any chance the airline might relax what some of its customers describe as a rigorous and draconian approach to carry-on luggage were dashed at a Ryanair press event in London this week.
A typically bullish and entirely unapologetic Michael O’Leary said the airline would instead be ramping up its efforts to catch people carrying oversized bags from November with the guilty hit with an on-the-spot fine of €75.
His plan, which he flagged in July, is to increase the incentives for gate staff who intercept passengers trying to bring on board luggage that does not fit into its sizers. The payment to staff will rise from €1.50 to €2.50 for every intercepted bag.
RM Block
He will also lift the monthly cap of €80 – which amounts to 120 bags a month per Ryanair staff member based on current incentive rates
The changes should allow staff to boost their take-home pay significantly if they catch more miscreants who attempt to board planes with bags which may be on the slightly big side.
But just how many miscreants are there?
O’Leary said around 200,000 passengers a year are charged luggage fees at airport gates with the extra charge coming in at €75 a person. This amounts to revenue of €15 million for the airline.
But with staff now able to earn €2.50 a bag with no ceiling on how much they can make each month, who knows how many of the airline’s 200 million or so passengers will be caught out next year.
The existence of this incentive was not public knowledge until this summer. Now we know about it, but this week O’Leary claimed the staff rewards were not part of a moneymaking exercise. Rather, they were aimed at improving efficiencies, he said.
“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.”
Not everyone is convinced by his claims.
Rory Boland, editor of consumer magazine Which? Travel, has had frequent run-ins with Ryanair in recent years.
He said bag money “plays an increasingly crucial role in Ryanair’s business model [and] that includes issuing fines at the boarding gate”.
Mr Boland said that while passengers “should of course adhere to the rules ... frequent changes to those rules and many different fare packages – with varying amounts of luggage allowance Ryanair attempts to upsell to passengers – can make it incredibly confusing.
“While fining customers who break luggage allowance rules may fit with Ryanair’s model of putting profits first, this increasingly messy system is unfair on the travelling public.”
Passengers who spoke to The Irish Times had mixed views about the policy.
Heading to Italy with his family earlier this summer, Sean Flynn said that “while it’s expensive to take a group of five people away for two weeks, it is only doable because of Ryanair”.
The Limerick man also said: “Someone’s always complaining about something.
“We know the score when we book the flights, the sizes of the allowed bags are very clear on the website, so I don’t understand why people get so surprised at the boarding gate and start trying to negotiate a deal.”
Bernadette Geraghty agreed, saying: “I have been travelling with them for years and I’ve never had a problem. The amount of times I’ve seen people trying to sneak huge bags past the staff is unbelievable.”
Luna de Fluiter who flew to Girona, Spain, said she understood the logic behind charging people for bags, but even though she tried always to stick to the rules she travelled with trepidation.
“Raising commission to catch people with oversized bags is scary,” she said. “Standing in line and waiting to see if the crew will check the size of my bag is the most stressful part of travelling.”
Anne McCarthy said: “Low-cost airlines are fine, but they are very stressful.
“I’m heading off to France and I avoided the cheaper airlines as I can’t bear the whole herding and hustling of the passengers and the constant feeling that you’ve done something wrong and that the staff are just waiting to pounce on anyone who looks like they might have an extra pair of socks on them.”
