By Annabal Bagdi Liam Buckler
Airport staff are reportedly being handed bonuses if they catch easyJet passengers with oversized bags, according to a leaked email. In an email sent to Swissport staff, employees were told they would take home 拢1.20 (拢1 after tax) for every ‘gate bag’ which is too large to take onboard a plane. Swissport runs passenger airport gates across UK airports including Birmingham , Belfast, Glasgow, Jersey, Liverpool, and Newcastle. The scheme aims to ‘reward agents doing the right thing’, according to an internal message signed by Dean Martin, a Swissport station manager at Glasgow Airport. The leaked email, which was seen by The Sunday Times, said the ‘easyJet gate bag revenue incentive’ would lead to ‘payments made directly to employees’. READ MORE: DWP Universal Credit and PIP changes planned as welfare reforms backed Staff were told that if they did not meet targets, ‘internal tracking will be used to identify opportunities for further support and training for individual agents, but will not be used negatively’. The email ended with: “Thank you for your ongoing contribution to the success of easyJet.” It was sent in November 2023, and the policy reportedly remains active, Mirror reports. easyJet, which made 拢9 billion in revenue, allows passengers to take one small bag on a flight. But passengers have to pay extra for larger bags, with fees ranging from 拢5.99 to 拢33. If an unpaid oversized bag is identified at the airport gate, passengers face a 拢48 charge – with 拢1.20 going directly to airport employees. Ground staff are employed by third-party handling companies, which differ across airports. easyJet is not responsible for how the bonuses are issued. An easyJet spokeswoman said: “easyJet is focused on ensuring our ground handling partners apply our policies correctly and consistently in fairness to all our customers. “Our bag policies and options are well understood and we remind customers of this when booking, before they travel and on their boarding pass which means a very small proportion of customers who don’t comply will be charged at the airport.” Swissport operates passenger services at 17 airports across the country. Swissport said the firm follows airline policies under agreed terms. A spokesperson said: “We serve our airline customers and apply their policies under terms and conditions for managing their operation. “We鈥檙e highly professional and our focus is on delivering safe and efficient operations, which we do day in and day out for four million flights per year.” Don’t miss the biggest and breaking stories by signing up to the BirminghamLive newsletter here .