Ryanair’s ‘abusive’ hand luggage fee banned by Spanish court
Ryanair’s policy of charging customers for hand luggage has been ruled “abusive” by a Spanish court, and subsequently banned in the country.
The charge, introduced last year, forces passengers to pay an extra fee if they want to bring anything more than one personal item into the cabin.
Read more: Ryanair ‘saving millions’ in unclaimed compensation
However, a passenger travelling from Madrid to Brussels too the budget flyer to court, after staff forced her to pay €20 (£17), to bring 10 kilograms of luggage onto the plane.
Today, the court ordered Ryanair to refund her the €20 plus interest, but rejected her demand for compensation of a further €10 for the suffering she experienced.
It is the second time the carrier has got into trouble over its cabin baggage policy this year. In February, Italy’s antitrust authority fined Ryanair €3m, because it amounted to raising ticket prices in a “non-transparent” manner.
However, the fines were cancelled after Ryanair and Wizz Air, which was fined €1m over the same matter, appealed the decision.
The Spanish judge ruled that the hand luggage, by size and weight, could be easily carried in the cabin, pointing to a Spanish regulation that allows passengers to take hand luggage on board at no additional cost.
The judge characterised the charge as abusive, adding that it “curtailed the rights that the passenger has recognised by law”, and declared it invalid in Spain.
Read more: Ryanair will ask for IAG divestments in €1bn Air Europa deal
“This ruling will not affect Ryanair’s baggage policy, as it misquoted the European Court of Justice and misinterpreted the airlines’ commercial freedom to determine the size of their cabin baggage,” Ryanair said.
When asked if it was planning to ignore the Spanish ruling or appeal it in the European Court of Justice, Ryanair declined to comment.