A number of budget airlines, including Ryanair and Easyjet, have just been slapped with fines totalling £128 million after carrying out “unfair” practices, according to a Spanish governmental body
Passengers who pack light and don’t mind where they sit could end up paying more to fly, an airline organisation has warned.
A number of budget airlines, including Ryanair, have been hit with fines totalling €150 million (£128 million) by Spanish authorities over “unfair” practices involving seating and bag rules.
The Spanish Ministry of Consumer Affairs has issued fines against Ryanair, Vueling, Volotea and Easyjet for “abusive practices”. The Spanish news outlet Cadena SER reported that the fines would total €150m.
It is one of the only times that a 2014 European Court of Justice ruling – stipulating hand luggage cannot be subject to additional charges as long it meets reasonable weight and size requirements – has been applied.
The Ministry started a probe in June 2023 to investigate whether airline practices were abusive, unfair or if they broke regulations. The judgement means that four airlines could be banned from charging passengers for cabin luggage in the future in Spain.
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Ryanair, EasyJet, Vueling and Volotea can appeal the fine, before the ministry and then before the National Court. It is not clear how much each of the four impacted airlines may be made to pay if appealing is unsuccessful.
All four airlines have warned that flight ticket prices will climb if they lose the case, Spanish outlet Sur report.
Some of the practices the airlines were investigated for were a lack of transparency regarding the final price to be paid, charging a surcharge for carry-on luggage, not allowing cash payments at the airport to cover extra services and charging for families to sit together.
The Spanish airline association Asociación de Líneas Aéreas (ALA) has opposed the idea of banning extra payments for cabin baggage.
A statement from the organisation read: “It will harm consumers by removing the option for passengers to hire exactly what they need. As a result, the 50 million or so passengers who currently do not carry cabin luggage on board and only travel with hand luggage under the seat would not be able to benefit from paying only for essential services, forcing them to purchase services they do not use.”
Eoghan Corry, editor at Travel Extra, told The Anton Savage Show that Ryanair bosses will not take the decision lightly.
“Ryanair are being told you can’t charge to put families sitting together and you can’t charge for cabin bags. They faced this resistance right across Europe from the very beginning; they’re feisty, they’re not going to lie down – they’re going to appeal this,” he said.
He predicted that all four impacted airlines will “get together and appeal this”. “The argument… is that if you want to sit [together] you pay a few euro extra. If you don’t, you get a cheaper flight – that’s the argument,” he said.
“Spain is a very important market for Ryanair, they’re not going to walk away from it.”
Agustin Reyna of the European Consumer Organisation (BEUC) said there needs to be harmonised policies across the European Union. “This is a strong and welcome signal from the Spanish authorities because unfair policies from airlines about carry-on hand luggage need to stop,” he said.
“What we now need are EU-wide standards for hand luggage policies to harmonise what airlines require of consumers and to smoothen air passengers’ experience,” he added.
The airlines have been contacted for comment.
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