Airport staff are earning cash bonuses for every easyJet passenger spotted with oversized bags, a leaked email has shown.
Staff at Swissport, an aviation company which operates passengers through gates at airports, can "receive £1.20 (£1 after tax) for every gate bag taken".
Staff at seven airports in the UK and the Channel Islands, including Newcastle, Birmingham and Glasgow, were part of the "easyJet gate bag revenue incentive" scheme.
The email explained that the payment is to "reward agents doing the right" thing.
Staff could earn £1 for every oversized bag caught
PA
Revealed by the Jersey Evening Post, "internal tracking will be used to identify opportunities for further support and training for individual agents, but will not be used negatively" for staff who are worried about meeting targets.
Swissport ground handlers earn about £12 an hour, with one former manager saying they had no choice but to focus on oversized baggage.
They told the Sunday Times: "Confronting people with excess baggage is like taking on fare dodgers.
"You risk abuse or worse - imagine stopping a group of lads on a stag weekend and telling them I'm going to have to charge you more than you paid for your tickets to check those bags into the hold."
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It was also revealed ground handlers employed by a separate aviation firm, DHL Supply Chain, are paid extra for identifying non-compliant easyJet bags.
The employees at London Gatwick, Bristol and Manchester airports receive "a nominal amount" for each bag, the Sunday Times reported.
EasyJet allows passengers to take a small bag that fits under the seat for free, with larger bags stored in overhead lockers for an additional fee.
These larger bags fee starts from £5.99, but if an oversized bag is confiscated at the gate, passengers are charged an extra £48 to store it in the hold.
EasyJet said: 'Our bag policies and options are well understood'
PASwissport said: "We serve our airline customers and apply their policies under terms and conditions for managing their operation.
"We're highly professional and our focus is on delivering safe and efficient operations, which we do day in and day out for 4million flights per year."
EasyJet explained that it uses different ground handling agents at separate airports. They added that they manage remuneration directly without its oversight.
The airline stated: "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."
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