Ryanair staff could soon be paid more for catching passengers with oversized cabin bags, after Michael O’Leary said the airline may raise the current €2.50 commission to about €3.50. The carrier’s chief executive said the incentive is working because the number of people trying to board with bags that do not fit the sizer is falling.
“As the numbers fall, I think we will up the rate of commission, from €2.50 to €3.50 or so,” O’Leary said. He also warned passengers plainly: “Everybody must know, do not show up with a bag that doesn’t fit in the sizer because you will be charged.” Those who are caught breaking the baggage rules face a €75 fee.
The move would sharpen a policy that has become one of Ryanair’s most recognizable and most disliked enforcement tactics. Staff currently receive €2.50 for every oversized bag identified, while passengers who get caught pay €75. O’Leary said the system has improved compliance, arguing that travelers now understand the risk of trying to squeeze extra luggage past the gate. Ryanair has long used strict cabin-bag rules as part of its low-fare model, and the airline’s leaders have shown little appetite for softening them.
O’Leary, who became a director of Ryanair in 1988 and chief executive in 1994, also used the interview to attack wider airport policy. He called for a ban on early-morning drinking in airports and described a €15 million investment at Dublin Airport as a waste. A spokesman for Dublin Airport Authority said O’Leary was a little out of touch with wider passenger expectations, underscoring the familiar clash between Ryanair’s hard-edged approach and the airports it uses.
The comment lands at a time when the airline is still leaning on the same playbook that made it Europe’s biggest budget carrier: lower base fares, tighter rules and quick penalties when passengers stray. That formula has helped Ryanair keep control of boarding and baggage costs, but it also keeps the airline in the headlines for the way it handles customers. The bag bonus is one more sign that the company wants enforcement, not generosity, to do the work.
The dispute with Dublin also sits alongside broader network changes. Ryanair is already preparing for the closure of its Thessaloniki base, a move that will cut 700,000 seats in Greece, showing how aggressively the airline adjusts capacity when it decides a market no longer fits its plans. For passengers, the message from O’Leary is unchanged: pack light, follow the rules and expect the gate staff to notice.
