PROPERTY SEARCH
ARCHIVED - Spain fines Ryanair 24,000 euros for making passengers pay for hand luggage
Changes to the free hand luggage policy have been labelled as “abusive” by a Spanish consumer affairs board
Authorities in the Balearic Islands, which include Menorca, Mallorca and Ibiza, have imposed a fine of 24,000 euros on Ryanair for charging passengers to bring hand luggage into the cabin.
Since 2018, the airline has changed its policy on free hand luggage and started to apply an extra charge to be able to take a bag on board their planes. The only passengers exempt from this charge are those who have bought their tickets with the Priority Boarding fare for an additional price. Everyone else is charged for any luggage that they take on board that exceeds 25cm x 20cm x 40cm.
The FACUA Consumers in Action organisation already launched complaints against this practice in November 2019 for being abusive towards airplane passengers, and the Balearic Directorate-General for Consumer Affairs opened a disciplinary case against the Irish low-cost airline back in March 2021 stating that charging for cabin baggage could be an infringement of consumer regulations.
This is an abusive practice, says the Directorate-General, pointing out that several court rulings have ruled that hand luggage is not considered baggage, and that airlines are obliged to allow passengers to put it in the cabin free of charge.
In light of this, they have therefore decided to impose on Ryanair the maximum fine possible of 24,000 euros.
Ryanair may still lodge an administrative appeal in the courts against this decision.
The budget-airline company has decided to cut some of its Spanish routes this January due to Covid, with Andalucía, Murcia and Valencia all having fewer flights in first month of 2022, while British low-cost airline Jet2 has actually more than doubled its regular number of bookings to Spain in the first two weeks of January alone.
See more news about Travel & Tourism in Spain
Image: Ryanair
Sign up for the Spanish News Today Editors Roundup Weekly Bulletin and get an email with all the week’s news straight to your inbox
Special offer: Subscribe now for 25% off (36.95 euros for 48 Bulletins)
OR
you can sign up to our FREE weekly roundup!
Read some of our recent bulletins:
25% Discount Special Offer subscription:
36.95€ for 48 Editor’s Weekly News Roundup bulletins!
Please CLICK THE BUTTON to subscribe.
(List price 3 months 12 Bulletins)
Read more stories from around Spain:
Contact Spanish News Today: Editorial 966 260 896 /
Office 968 018 268
