July 22, 2025, 10:37 am | Read time: 2 minutes
Budget airlines like EasyJet or Ryanair are known for their strict rules on carry-on luggage. If airline staff catch a passenger with oversized luggage, they receive bonuses–which now apparently are set to increase.
If the carry-on is too large, it can quickly become expensive at the airport. Depending on the airline, costs range from 50 to 100 euros if suitcases or backpacks do not meet the specified dimensions. Airline staff are usually very diligent in spotting oversized luggage–and not without reason. They receive money for each identified carry-on offender. At Ryanair, it’s currently about 1.50 euros per passenger they catch. However, the bonus is expected to increase in the future.
Related: How strictly airlines enforce carry-on rules
Ryanair CEO Calls Luggage Offenders a “Nuisance”
In an interview with the Irish broadcaster RTE, Ryanair CEO Michael O’Leary stated that he wants to continue motivating and rewarding his staff. This is to prevent passengers from bringing oversized carry-on luggage on board without paying for it. However, he did not specify how high these bonuses for airline staff will be in the future. TRAVELBOOK reached out to Ryanair for comment, but a response is still pending.
O’Leary referred to passengers who repeatedly do not adhere to the luggage rules as a nuisance and asked them in the interview to fly with another airline. He noted that 99.9% of passengers comply with the rules, but the remaining 0.1% delay the boarding process and departure.
Other Airlines Also Pay Bonuses
Not only Ryanair pays its gate staff bonuses to catch passengers with oversized luggage–other airlines also operate under this system. The Guardian reports that employees of the aviation company Swissport, who handle baggage for EasyJet at British airports, also receive money. Here, it’s approximately 1.38 euros per caught luggage offender.