Ryanair has said that in a bid to "eliminate the scourge" of passengers bringing oversized baggage to the boarding gate, the airline is considering increasing the commission it pays staff for identifying them.
Currently Ryanair employees are paid around €1.50 for every oversized cabin bag that they identify, and passengers are charged additional fees if their bag is deemed to be too large to bring on-board the plane.
According to the airline's policy, passengers who bring cabin luggage - measuring more than 55cm in height, 40cm in width, and 20cm in depth - to the boarding gate will either have it refused or placed in the aircraft's hold for a fee of up to €75.
CEO Michael O'Leary said if a cabin bag does not fit in the Ryanair baggage sizer, then "it's not getting on. You're getting charged and the only way to eliminate this is to incentivise and reward my staff.
"I will continue to incentivise and reward our staff - I make no apology for people who are breaking our baggage rules ... they will continue to pay those baggage fees until they comply with our rules."
On suggestions the airline's baggage rules can be applied arbitrarily, the Ryanair boss said: "You might have gotten away with it outbound ... I hope in future you'll get stung on the way out and on the way back."
He added: "The only people who get penalised are the people breaking rules. 99.9% of our passengers don't break the rules, they don't get penalised.
"The 0.1% of the guys who delay the boarding process, the guys who are there delaying the departure of the aircraft because their bag doesn't fit in the overhead (cabin), they are going to pay and we're going to eliminate them.
"I am going to eliminate the scourge of this 0.1% of passengers who simply will not comply with our baggage rules. Please fly with somebody else we don't want your business."
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