The Minister of Social Rights, Consumer Affairs and Agenda 2030, Pablo Bustinduy, announced this Thursday that in “the coming weeks” the case against the companies Ryanair, easyJet, Vueling and Volotea will be concluded for which his department imposes a fine of 150 million euros for “abusive practices” when charging for hand luggage.
The sanction is based on violations of supplement for booking an adjacent seat to accompany minors or dependentscharge for the transport of hand luggage, be “opaque” in the pre-contractual information on the price of the service, the cash payment ban and one 20 euro supplement for reprinting the boarding pass at the airport, according to the OCU.
“In the coming weeks, a case that was made public a few months ago and that concerns some of the most common abusive practices used by airlines, namely the charging of cabin baggage, will be concluded,” he said in an interview on the program ‘Las Mañanas’, RNEand collected by Europe Press.
Furthermore, Bustinduy clarified that, given that this is an administrative law procedure ordered by the Ministry of Consumer Affairs, “until it is publicly concluded” he cannot begin to “evaluate its content.”
After learning of the sanction at the end of May, the Association of Airlines (ALA) rejected the decision because it “would harm consumers” who do not need certain services. Thus, the employers’ association estimates that nearly 50 million passengers who do not carry a cabin bag on board and travel only with hand luggage under the seat “would not be able to benefit from paying only for essential services, forcing them to contract services that they do not have to use.”
The first (and highest) consumer fines
These are the first fines imposed by the Spanish Government’s Consumer Authority since it took over sanctioning powers in May 2022 following the amendment of the General Law for the Defence of Consumers.
Furthermore, the sanctions “They are also the highest that any authority has applied in history.“consumer protection,” according to Facua, who points out that the one imposed on Ryanair “multiplies by several” the most significant sanctions.
Consumer Affairs opened a case in June 2023 to investigate whether these practices were abusive or unfair and whether they contravened consumer regulations.
