The legal battle between consumers and airlines The charging of supplements for carry-on luggage, for reserving adjacent seats to accompany dependent people or for not accepting the cash payment of these fees has become an eternal fight. This Friday, the Ministry of Consumer Affairs announced that it was imposing a fine of 179 million euros to five airlines for abusive practices. Ryanair, Vueling, Easyjet, Norwegian and Volotea have been fined, the first with the largest amount 107,775,777 euros, due to internal regulations that have been applied since 2018 and that, according to the minister Pablo Bustinduy“violates consumer rights“.
Bustinduy’s decision is not new. Last year the Ministry opened a file to these companies at the request of the General Secretariat of Consumer Affairs and Gaming. This investigation moved into the resolution phase in April of this year, when Consumo reiterated that the practices carried out by the companies now sanctioned could be considered abusive based on the article 47.1 of the General Law for the Defense of Consumers and Users. According to this, non-compliance with price regulatory standards, unjustified imposition of conditions regarding unsolicited benefits or minimum amounts or any other type of illegal intervention or action that represents a price increase or commercial margins are infringements.
For his part, the European Parliament determined last October, through a resolution, that they must standardize the dimensions of cabin suitcases since hand luggage should be considered “an essential element.” Although this decision was not binding at all. Without the approval of a specific regulation by the European Commission, the airlinesright now, They have the right to do and undo the rules, that is, they decide what the passenger can carry for free or not.
“It won’t change anything”
Despite this, the article 22 of the Regulation (EC) No 1008/2008 of the European Parliament and of the Council clearly specifies that Community airlines and, on the basis of the principle of reciprocity, those of third countries, will freely set the rates and freight rates for intra-community air servicesan extreme to which companies cling and which means that they can continue applying rates in the way they want.
Hence, in light of the million-dollar fine imposed, the companies have already announced that they will continue to battle with the relevant resources. In this sense, the president of the Association of Airlines (ALA)Javier Gándara, stressed this Friday that the five companies had already “expressed a common position of rejection” compared to the Executive’s decision. Gándara also pointed out that the fine “with the greatest impact” is the one that has to do with hand luggage in the cabin and qualified the measured as “disproportionate for the Spanish airline and tourism sectors” and against the “freedom” of each company.
The next step for companies in this regard will be judicial meanssince all of them intend to present appeals in the Contentious-Administrative Matters and request precautionary measures and that, in the words of Gándara, will lead to a final sentence that will take a year or two to arrive. This means that the fine, as the airlines themselves have stated, “it won’t change anything.” In fact, Gándara warned that if the precautionary measures are not approved “a very important competitive distortion will be generated and will leave Spain as the only country that would apply a different commercial policy in the air sector, which would represent a clear competitive disadvantage and would divert air traffic to other countries”.
Money back?
Faced with this scenario, there are many users and also consumer organizations that have filed claims so that the money allocated for these supplements is returned. The Organization of Consumers and Users (OCU) He also recalled this Friday in a statement that he has repeatedly denounced these practices as constituting a clear abuse against consumers and being contrary to both Spanish and Community regulations; and urged the sanctioned companies to to cease the imposition.
The organization asked the Ministry of Consumer Affairs that, given the foreseeable wave of appeals that companies will present, they take precautionary measures to stop making these charges provisionally in the face of what they understand as a “massive fraud.” In addition, they recommend to consumers that they claim to the company the inadmissibility of the payments and that those who have already made them keep the documents that reflect it to be able to claim them judicially if necessary. Although Without these precautionary measures, companies do not have to return the amounts.
From Facuafor their part, have congratulated themselves on the measure taken by the Executive after having been one of the organizations at the head of the claims against these companies for six years. Precisely, on September 19, it was announced that a woman from Seville received a refund of the money charged for hand luggage after filing a claim through Facua supported by the article 97 of Law 48/1960, of July 21, on Air Navigation.
This standard specifies that the carrier will be obliged to transport free of charge in the cabinas hand luggage, the objects and packages that the traveler carries with them, including items purchased in stores located at airports. Yes indeed, when they meet the sizes specified by the airline.