Airport staff earn 50p for each Ryanair passenger 'caught' with excess baggage

PA

Airport staff at the John Lennon Airport in Liverpool are being incentivised to 'catch' passengers with excess baggage under a new bonus scheme.

The new arrangement, which was introduced at the end of summer, is bad news for holidaymakers with slightly heavier bags who may have previously passed unnoticed.

Staff members employed by handler Servisair will earn 50p for every bag identified as being too large for the on-board cabin storage.

But, to make life even tougher for passengers, that payment will only be received by the employee if they reach a target of 10 bags a week.

So, while Servisair employees earn a minimum of £5 extra a week, customers are being hit with baggage fines of around £40 a time.

The new arrangement does not affect all airlines flying out of the airport, only carriers with particular contract agreements, in this case, Ryanair. Easyjet, KLM and FlyBe do not currently have such agreements.

One Servisair employee admitted to the Telegraph that the new scheme will make staff more strict, saying: 'If I now see a bag that could be on the borderline I say, let's have a look if that's too big for the overhead lockers.

'Whereas previously we might have let borderline baggage through, now we'll be more stringent.'

Servisair has said the scheme 'will not in any way affect the travelling public who at all times are aware of the terms and conditions relating to baggage', adding that they want to address excess baggage problems because they cause extra work and delays, affecting contracts with airlines, and, ultimately, how handling companies like itself are paid.

A company spokesman said: 'Our clients' airlines, of which Ryanair is one, incentivise ground handlers to achieve contracted service levels based on performance indicators which include: on-time performance, lost baggage statistics, baggage delivery times and many others which at some airlines include excess baggage revenue.

'In the case of Liverpool John Lennon and this contract Servisair have taken the decision to pass some of this performance commission on to the frontline staff.'

Ryanair spokesman Stephen McNamara told the Telegraph: 'All our passengers are advised of, and agree to, our generous 10kg cabin bag allowance during booking and are reminded of our allowances in follow-up emails and on our boarding cards, which passengers print before they leave for the airport.

'Only those passengers who do not comply with these agreed cabin bag limits will ever be subject to avoidable gate bag charges.'

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