Ryanair boss considers increasing staff bonus to tackle excess baggage ‘scourge’

By Cillian Sherlock, PA

Ryanair is considering increasing a bonus paid to staff for identifying passengers’ oversized luggage, its chief executive said.

The airline currently pays staff around €1.50 for intercepting customers who are bringing bags on to the aircraft.

It is reported that the bonus is capped at about €80 for each staff member per month.

Passengers are charged a fee of up to €75 euros for bringing luggage that is larger than they paid for while booking their journey.

Ryanair currently includes a small carry-on bag – capped at a size of 40x20x25cm and weight of 10kg – with every ticket.

Passengers must pay a fee if they want to bring larger luggage, or if they want to bring multiple bags.

Ryanair boss Michael O’Leary said on Monday that summer fares would, on average, be the same rate as 2023 – but added that he expects a boost in profitability for the airline by “controlling costs”.

Members of the European Parliament are pushing for airlines to allow passengers to be allowed to bring on free an on-board personal item and small hand luggage.

However, Mr O’Leary predicted the proposal will not come into law due to a lack of space.

Speaking to the business news on RTE’s Morning Ireland, he said: “We’re flying largely full flights, about half the passengers can bring two bags and the other half can only bring one – because that’s all that fits in the plane.

“We’re already struggling with that amount of baggage.

“That’s one of the reasons we are so aggressive about eliminating the scourge of passengers with excess baggage.”

Mr O’Leary said more than 99.9 per cent of passengers comply with baggage rules, with “sizers” located within the airport.

He said: “We are happy to incentivise our (staff) with a share of those excess baggage fees, which we think will decline over the coming year or two.”

The chief executive added: “It is about 1.50 euro per bag – and we’re thinking of increasing it, so we eliminate it.”

Meanwhile, Mr O’Leary predicted that US President Donald Trump will “chicken out” of introducing increased tariffs for Europe on August 1st.

Asked if he anticipated tariffs applying to Boeing aircraft being delivered to the airline, he said: “Trump will probably chicken out again, I suspect the August 1 will get moved to September or October.

“We have taken delivery of five aircraft in the first quarter but no tariffs applied to those aircraft

“There is a risk of tariffs being introduced by the Europeans or the Americans in some tit-for-tat in August, September or October – but Boeing will have to pay those tariffs.”

Mr O’Leary said Ryanair would work with Boeing to ensure no tariffs are applied to commercial aircraft, which he said would be bad for the manufacturer’s exports to Europe as well as Airbus’s sales to the US – as well as the Irish aircraft leasing industry.

He added: “There’s increasing optimism, though, in Washington that commercial aircraft will be exempt from any tariffs – if Trump ever gets around to actually imposing tariffs.”

It comes as Ryanair revealed quarterly profits more than doubled thanks to strong Easter demand and as fares surged by more than 20 per cent.

The carrier reported profits after tax of €820 million for the three months to the end of June, up from €360 million a year earlier.

Revenues jumped by 20 per cent to €4.34 billion, boosted by the timing of Easter but also as Ryanair saw fares rise – in particular better-than-expected fares for last-minute bookings.

The average fare rose 21 per cent year-on-year to €51 in the quarter, it said.

The group is seeing fares rebound after it cut them by 7 per cent in its previous financial year as under-pressure consumers reined in spending.

But it said passenger growth was still being held back by delays to new aircraft deliveries, up 4 per cent to 55.5 million in its first quarter despite the Easter boost.

It expects a rise of “just 3 per cent” to 206 million passengers over the full year in spite of strong summer travel demand.

The group has repeatedly slashed its annual passenger forecast, with the last revision in January, blaming aircraft delivery delays from Boeing.