Low-cost airlines, including Ryanair and Easyjet, have been accused of “taking advantage of consumers” and ignores a tax decision.
Consumer rights activists ask EU legislators to intervene in the right of low-cost airlines to charge customers who want to take with them hand luggage, The Guardian reports.
Last week, European consumer groups asked Brussels to investigate seven airlines, including Ryanair, Easyjet and Wizz Air.
The airlines “exploit consumers”, said Agustín Reyna, the general manager of Beuc, a umbrella group that brings together 44 consumer organizations, and “ignores the EU Court of Justice, which decided that taxation for reasonable hand luggage is illegal.”
“We have not all experienced that our hand luggage does not fit in the dimensions imposed by the airline and that we are charged additional taxes?” He said.
If for a long time the travelers were worried about the weight of the suitcases that entered the plane, now reducing the dimensions of the hand luggage caused anxiety in the tails at airports.
In recent years, it has become an ordinary practice for passengers to pay a fee if they want to carry all the luggage, except for the smallest, the taxes ranging from one airline to another.
Ryanair passengers, for example, can transport a small bag for free it fits under the chair. However, if a boarding gate control shows that the luggage is oversized, the tax is 60 pounds (71 euros). A larger cab luggage can be added to the flight ticket for 7 to 19 euros, depending on the route, but again, if considered too large, its storage costs 89 euros.
Ryanair, convicted in Spain
Spain has become a battlefield for this problem. Last year, the Ministry for Consumer Rights has fined five low-cost airlines, including Ryanair, with a total amount of 179 million euros for charging passengers for hand luggage and reservation.
This month, a Spanish judge ordered Ryanair to reimburse to a passenger 147 euros from the hand luggage taxes accumulated on five flights.
In his decision, Judge Raquel Martínez said that “hand luggage an indispensable element of passenger transport”, therefore “its transport cannot be subjected to an additional tax”. The complaint was supported by the Spanish Consumer Rights Facua, which denounced the “illegal surcharge” since 2018.
What do Easyjet and Ryanair say about luggage taxes
Kenton Jarvis, Easyjet's executive director, suggested that passengers are pleased to pay for the services they want. He said that one third of his clients “do not take anything extra and are therefore satisfied to bring their (smaller) hand luggage.”
Jarvis added that the free cabic luggage was previously a “big logistics head” for Easyjet, because they did not fit all in the compartments above the head. This led to delays and unpleasantness for passengers, who had to put their luggage in the hold.
“That's why it is good to ask the traveler to pay for what he wants,” he said.
CEO Ryanair: “We do not change our politics!”
For his part, the executive director of Ryanair, Michael O'Leary, said he would not change the company's policy.
“The Spaniards have a crazy minister who decided that, because General Franco has adopted a law 30 years before Spain adhere to the European Union, passengers are free to transport as many luggage,” he said.
“It is a clear violation of European regulations. The European Commission has already informed Spain that this is illegal,” said CEO Ryanair, who said that any attempt to intervene violate the regulation that guarantees the airlines to establish prices and policies without political interference.
“In the short term, there are several consumers protection agencies in Spain that make decisions at local level and trumpete them,” he said.
“Nothing will change. We will not change our policy. The case will be sent to the European courts; we will appeal against these decisions,” said Michael O'Leary.
