bmibaby's hand luggage measuring devices too small

The budget airline bmibaby may have unfairly charged thousands of passengers for hand luggage because their measuring devices were too small.

When checking in bmibaby customers are asked to put their hand luggage in a metal cage to ensure it meets the size restrictions. Many failed the test and had to put the bags into the hold at a cost of £60 for a return flight.

It now appears that many of these gauges were smaller than the dimensions stated and thousands of travellers may have been charged the fees over the past three years.

The airline is currently changing all 60 of the under-sized gauges at the 30 airports it operates from, including East Midlands, Manchester, Birmingham and Cardiff. It is believed bmibaby knew about the problem with its gauges for some time and the problem is highlighted on Watchdog on BBC1 tonight.

Other major budget airlines including Ryanair, easyJet and Flybe, insist that their own hand luggage size gauges are accurate.