People flying to Malta with Ryanair are being asked to sign a declaration absolving the airline of responsibility for any damaged luggage.

Passengers departing from London Stansted over the weekend were told the system was introduced because of a surge in incidents at Malta International Airport.

But GlobeGround Malta Limited, the company that handles luggage of some airlines including Ryanair, said it had received no complaints about its service.

Passengers travelling to Malta on the low cost carrier were given a green sticker to sign stating that the airline was not accepting responsibility for damaged luggage. This was then fixed on to their cases before they were put on the conveyor belt.

They were told that the decision for this disclaimer had been taken because of a recent surge in baggage damage complaints and claims the airline was receiving.

GlobeGround’s chief operations officer Joe Bugeja at first said the company had no comment as it wanted to speak to the airline first.

But when asked whether his company had received any complaints from Ryanair about this alleged surge in baggage claims, Mr Bugeja replied: “Absolutely not.”

Ryanair chief of communications Robin Kiely had not replied to questions by the time of going to print.

No other airline is known to use such a disclaimer as a deterrent against passengers filing claims if their luggage gets damaged during a flight.

“I have never heard of it before and I’ve been working here for decades,” one airport employee told Times of Malta.

Sources close to a ground handling company that operates at the airport said that there were sudden surges in baggage damage from time to time.

Legal sources questioned whether the disclaimer was actually lawful, arguing that if an airline was being paid to get passengers and their luggage from point A to point B, the airline was responsible for damage sustained by luggage in their care.