The fines are a major victory for families who have been hit with rip off fees for years. But the airline industry has promised to fight the move – which is a first in Europe
Some of Europe’s biggest airlines, including Ryanair, have been slapped with hefty fines totalling £150 million for charging “abusive” fees to passengers.
The penalties are a result of practices such as charging customers for cabin hand luggage or making parents pay more to ensure they can sit next to their children. Spanish authorities have clamped down on the charges and have now banned this kind of fee. British holidaymakers may now be hoping that UK officials will follow suit, potentially safeguarding them from hidden costs during the booking process.
Budget carriers often lure travellers with low headline prices only to ramp up the overall cost with additional charges for essential parts of the journey.
Spain’s consumer ministry has penalised five airlines, with Ryanair receiving the largest fine of £90m (€107m). Vueling has been ordered to fork out £32m (€39m), easyJet must pay £24m (€29m), while Norwegian and Volotea have been hit with smaller fines of £1.3m (€1.6m) and £1.6m (€1.9m) respectively.
The consumer ministry has announced a ban on certain practices for which airlines have been penalised, including charging extra fees for carrying hand luggage onto the plane and reserving adjacent seats for children or other dependants. The ministry also stated that airlines will be prohibited from charging “disproportionate and abusive” fees for printing boarding passes, and from making “misleading omissions” of pricing information, making it difficult for consumers to compare prices, reports the Express.
It further instructed the airlines to accept cash payments at Spanish airports. These sanctions were initially imposed by Spain’s consumer affairs and gambling authorities after an investigation last year found “very serious” breaches of Spain’s consumer regulations.
Despite the airlines’ appeal against the sanctions, the ministry announced that it has rejected their appeals. This is the first time that sanctions classified as “very serious” have been imposed by Spain’s consumer affairs authorities since they were given sanctioning powers in 2022.
Critics suggest that the airlines may respond to the rulings by increasing the headline price of fares, but this would, at least, make them more honest and transparent. Ryanair has stated that it has instructed its lawyers to immediately appeal what it termed the “unlawful and baseless” fines.
Chief executive Michael O’Leary said: “These illegal and baseless fines, [which] have been invented by Spain’s Consumer Affairs Ministry for political reasons, are clearly in breach of EU law.”
He argued that Ryanair uses baggage and seating fees to change passengers’ behaviours, which allows the airline to keep prices low. He complained: “These illegal Spanish fines, which are based on an ancient 1960’s law which predated Spain joining the EU, would destroy the ability of low-cost airlines to pass on cost savings to consumers via lower fares.”
Javier Gandara, the head of the Spanish Association of Airlines (ALA) industry group, said all the carriers would appeal against the fine for cabin baggage charges, though not all would challenge other measures such as forcing airlines to accept cash when selling items on board.
ALA called the Spanish consumer ministry’s decision “nonsense” and said it violated free market and EU rules. Mr Gandara said the decision would hurt the Spanish travel industry, as no other EU country prevents extra charges for large carry-on bags. However, countries like Italy have limited some budget airline practices. In August, Ryanair lost an appeal against a ban on extra fees for seat reservations next to children under 12 or people with disabilities.