Airline passenger news and views

Airport workers are being paid bonuses to crack down on travellers with bulky hand luggage. They get £5 for every ten passengers they can ask to pay to check in bags deemed too big to carry on to aircraft.

Ryanair passengers are among those who could face particularly eagle-eyed attention as a result, but other budget airlines are thought to use similar tactics.

Airlines often have contracts giving companies that provide check-in staff a financial incentive to detect passengers with excess baggage.

However, yesterday it emerged that the firm providing baggage services for Ryanair at Liverpool John Lennon Airport is passing a cut directly to workers. The bonuses being offered by Servisair are worth 50p a passenger and designed to encourage staff to catch as many offenders as possible each week.

This could mean check-in staff are less likely to ignore minor infringements of baggage-allowance rules, or to use their discretion when a plane is not fully booked.

The deal has been confirmed only on services for Ryanair, which charges £35 to check in hand luggage deemed too large at the desk, or £40 at the gate.

Servisair refused to say which of its other airline contracts worked on the same basis.

Servisair said the arrangement, which was introduced at the end of summer, would not cost travellers more and was aimed at guaranteeing the airline a smooth, efficient service.

Ryanair said passengers were made fully aware of its 'generous' 10kg cabin bag allowance before they arrived at the airport.

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

He added that bonus arrangements were up to baggage-handling firms at airports, rather than the airline.

Check-in staff may face abuse from customers told they need to pay extra baggage fees, and some employers regard bonuses as compensation for the stress.'