What to do if an airline tells you your cabin bag is too big

Colin McPherson was at his departure gate in Glasgow Airport when he was pulled out of the queue by ground staff contracted by easyJet. 

They told him to pay an extra £48, claiming his backpack was too big. He is adamant it was not. 

This is an experience that’s increasingly common. We’ve received numerous complaints about ‘aggressive’ checks on cabin bag sizes and fines in our annual airlines survey. 

EasyJet and Ryanair have made it clear that they will charge passengers extra, even if bags are only slightly oversized.

Staff employed at departure gates for both easyJet and Ryanair flights have been incentivised with bonuses for every bag they hit with an additional fee.

Ryanair’s Michael O’Leary has even been quoted in the press as suggesting that Ryanair wants to increase the bonuses. EasyJet told us that it doesn’t incentivise staff directly – but hasn’t denied that third-party ground handling agents can get bonuses.

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Airline bag fine refunded

Colin McPherson is unusual in that he managed to get the money back. After being forced to pay the fee in Glasgow, when he arrived at Prague Airport he asked for the bag to be measured again. There, easyJet contractors told him his bag wasn’t oversized and that staff in Glasgow had made a mistake.

He complained to easyJet and told us: ‘It made me take photos of the bag with a tape measure at multiple angles. I had to jump through hoops.’  But, eventually, easyJet refunded him the £48. 

Despite what he was told in Prague, and the refund, easyJet does not accept that it charged him unfairly. It told us later that the photos Colin had taken were of the bag when empty, so it could have been different when it was full. It described the refund as a ‘goodwill gesture’.

Why more passengers are getting charged for bags at the gate

Nearly all budget airlines have significantly reduced the size of bags included in their ticket prices over the past 10 years. Bag fees, whether paid in advance or as a fine at the gate, are an increasingly big part of low-cost carriers' profits.

At the gate, Ryanair charges £46-£60 if your underseat bag is too big, and £70-£75 if your overhead locker bag is too big.

With easyJet, oversized underseat bags or overhead locker bags incur a £48 fee at the gate.

Before you travel, check our guide to the baggage rules for easyJet, Ryanair and others. 

What if my cabin or underseat bag is slightly too big for the bag sizer? 

EasyJet and Ryanair use special cages at airport gates to check the size of your bag. 

The best way to avoid being charged is to measure every part of the bag and make sure it complies with the rules.

We've heard from an increasing number of passengers caught out by either the wheels of the bag making it slightly larger than the sizer, or the front of the bag bulging slightly. An airline can charge you for this, even if it's just a few millimetres. 

One passenger told us that she’d ‘meticulously measured’ her bag before flying with easyJet. When she tried to get it into the cage, though, she couldn’t because the wheels wouldn’t fit.

She told the member of staff that she’d measured the bag and knew it was OK, but says ‘he wouldn’t budge, and asked for my money’. 

Fortunately, her husband then came back and turned the bag around, successfully fitting it in the cage ‘to cheers from the other passengers’. Easyjet accepted the bag and she didn’t have to pay anything extra.

Need a cabin bag that you can use with easyJet and Ryanair? These are the best cabin bags on the market

Make sure you check the bag’s pockets

Another passenger, flying with Ryanair, told us they’d also made sure their bag met the rules. But when they put it into the sizer, 'the front pocket jutted out by 2mm’.

They say that staff working on behalf of Ryanair then demanded £70.

The passenger removed some items from the pocket of the bag, which then fitted into the sizer, and they were allowed to board without the fee.

What happens if you’re charged – despite your bag being the right size?

There are increasing press reports of passengers being charged, even when they say their bag did fit. 

Often, the airline denies this, but we have heard of people, such as Colin, who’ve got a refund. Another passenger also got a £48 voucher from easyJet, despite her bag being too big, because it accepted that there'd been failings in how she was treated by staff.

Colin, above, says that he was offered a voucher but insisted that he wanted the £48 paid into his account, which easyJet did.

EasyJet response

EasyJet told us: ‘easyJet's bag policy is well understood. We make our allowances – including dimensions – clear when booking, via email before travel and on our boarding passes. Our ground handlers check bags to ensure they will fit safely in the cabin, and in fairness to customers who have paid to bring additional baggage. 

'We are looking into Mr McPherson’s experience with our ground handling provider at Glasgow Airport, as we want to ensure our policies are applied correctly and have refunded Mr McPherson for the charge as a gesture of goodwill.’ 

Ryanair response

Ryanair didn’t provide a comment, except to say it doesn’t provide an incentive to staff at one of the main ground crew providers, Swissport.

CEO Michael O’Leary has since been quoted in the press as saying that the airline does pay a bonus of €1.50 to some gate staff (presumably not those at Swissport), and it’s thinking of increasing this.

We’ve yet to hear from anyone who’s had a cabin bag fee refunded by Ryanair.

How to complain about excessive bag fees

If staff try to charge you for a bag that fits in the sizer, do complain. 

While at the gate, be sure to take pictures from every possible angle. This shows that the bag fitted in the sizer at the time of boarding, rather than later on when airlines may claim items have been removed. This is crucial. 

For easyJet complaints, you can use this contact form. Here’s the complaints form for Ryanair. 

You’ll need to provide the airline with your booking details, evidence of the additional fee you paid and evidence of the bag you took – ideally a picture of it in the sizer. Both passengers we heard from had to send easyJet pictures of their bags next to a tape measure.

If you don’t feel that your complaint has been handled fairly, you can contact the Alternative Dispute Resolution provider AviationADR. While we have had concerns about AviationADR, the service it provides is free, and it’s authorised by the Civil Aviation Authority to handle complaints.

 Do you have evidence that you’ve been charged extra by an airline for a bag that was the right size? Or insider knowledge on how and why the rules are enforced? Let us know at travelexperts@which.co.uk 

Why are some people charged – and not others?

One easyJet passenger complained to us that he bought a new bag to comply with the airlines’ tough rules, then felt like a mug as he saw other passengers marching on to the plane with much bigger bags.

Airline cabin bag rules can seem to be applied arbitrarily: some people are charged extra, and some are not.

A frequent complaint in our annual airlines survey and on social media is that people have used the same bag with the same airline for years without being charged extra. Then one day, they're pulled out of the line and told their bag won’t fit. 

Don’t assume that just because you were not charged for an oversized bag in the past, you won’t be next time. And if you are charged for a bag that did fit, follow our advice above.