He Government fines Ryanair, Vueling, Volotea, EasyJet and Norwegian €179 million for abusive practices such as charging extra for hand luggage, reserving adjacent seats or printing the boarding pass to accompany dependents.
Specifically, The sanction against Ryanair is the highest of all and exceeds 107 million euros. Next come the fines of 39 million imposed on Burlington, 29 million on EasyJet, 1.6 million on Norwegian and 1.1 million on Volotea, according to the Ministry of Consumer Affairs.
Pablo Bustinduy, Minister of Social Rights, Consumer Affairs and the 2030 Agenda, signed these sanctions confirming those proposed by the General Secretariat for Consumption and Gaming. These were announced in May, although the fine amounts to 150 million euros.
It therefore also rejected the appeals filed by these companies. This concludes the investigation opened by the General Directorate of Consumer Affairs in 2023 into practices described as “very serious” infractions of the consumer regulations included in article 47 of the consolidated text of the General Consumer Law. Consumers and users, approved by Royal Legislative Decree 1/2007 of November 16 (TRLGDCU).
“This is the first time that sanctions qualified as very serious have been implemented by the General Administration of the State in the field of consumption, whose ministry acquired sanctioning powers in June 2022,” specifies the Ministry of Consumption.
Sanctions also include the express ban on continuing the sanctioned practices.
Among these, the consumption also includes the practice of not allowing cash payment at Spanish airports and the imposition of “disproportionate and abusive” fees on passengers for printing their boarding pass.
Likewise, it penalizes “misleading omissions” of information and the lack of clarity of prices published both on its own website and on third parties, “making it difficult for consumers to compare price offers and make decisions based on their place.”
Given this resolution, the Airlines Association (ALA) crossed out the “absurd” decision This places Spain as the only country in the EU where there is a desire to ban cabin baggage charging practices.
Furthermore, according to him, it is an “illegal interference and an attack on market freedom”, which represents “a comparative offense against the countries around us where this practice is not not prohibited.”
