‘Delayed the flight’: London fliers try to board plane in Spain. Then Wizz Air workers say carry-ons don’t fit—while they’re literally in the sizer

Air travel has become a bit of a free-for-all. Between antisocial behavior exhibited by passengers and every airport enforcing different and often contradictory security protocols, hopping on a flight can feel a bit like flipping a coin.

Now, one passenger is drawing attention to what she's calling a scam. She's alleged that airline employees overcharged for carry-on bags they claimed were too big. Here's why she thought that wasn't necessarily the case.

‘How does this not fit?'

London photographer Mia (@mileswithmia) posted a video of her allegedly being “scammed” by Wizz Air employees. The video has since accumulated more than 10.4 million views.

Mia's video began with her asking a Wizz Air employee, “How does this not fit?” as she panned her camera to a nearby carry-on sizer. Mia's carry-on was visibly nestled into the sizer. Her bag appeared to fit. The employee was apparently attempting to charge Mia £75 for breaching carry-on size guidelines.

“How does this not fit?” Mia asked again. “That fits!” She continued to repeat the same two lines.

Nearby Wizz Air employees spoke to each other rapidly in Spanish while ignoring Mia's pleas. In the comment section, Spanish-speaking viewers claimed the employees said, “We haven't charged anyone yet, we have to charge some of them.” They speculated that Wizz Air employees make a commission off of charged bags.

Mia continued to beg the employees to see her perspective, but to no avail. An employee then accused her of removing clothes from the carry-on and putting them on, so as to make the carry-on smaller. The employee implied Mia would be taking up more space in the seat.

“This is literally my jumper,” Mia said. “You can't tell me to throw my jumper away … It doesn't say you can have one jumper.”

In a follow-up video filmed from her seat on the plane, Mia said she'd watched that same Wizz Air employee fail to scan multiple passengers' boarding passes.

“Now we're an hour delayed!!” Mia wrote in her caption. “She wasn't even scanning passports or boarding passes. So what's more important our security or paying £75?!”

@mileswithmia @wizzair do better! This delayed the flight by 30 mins !! Stressing out so many people. #wizzair #alicante ♬ original sound – Tyra

Do airlines charge for carry-ons that aren't actually oversized?

Mia is not the first air traveler to take to social media about alleged overcharging for carry-on luggage. One Redditor reported that “Ryanair charged [them] €180 for cabin bags that were within allowed size.” A Facebook user posted about a similar situation with EasyJet. Yet another Reddit user made the same claim, this time also about Wizz Air.

While the BBC reported in 2025 that “the bonus for Ryanair workers who intercept passengers with oversized cabin bags will rise from €1.50 to €2.50 per bag,” there is no such report for Wizz Air. Ryanair CEO Michael O'Leary claimed “the bonus was meant to put off the small minority who brought cabin bags which were bigger than the size limit, insisting the airline was ‘not trying to catch people out'.”

The Guardian also reported in 2025 that staff at multiple aviation companies — including Swissport and DHL Supply Chain — “are earning cash bonuses for every easyJet passenger they spot travelling with an oversized bag, according to a leaked email.”

“The payments are to ‘reward agents doing the right thing', according to the email explaining the ‘easyJet gate bag revenue incentive' scheme,” the Guardian said.

Buzz News reached out to Wizz Air via email and Mia via TikTok comment.