Spain fines budget airlines including Ryanair €179m (£149m)

Spain has imposed fines on five budget airlines for “abusive practices” including charging for hand luggage.

The fines totalling €179m (£149m) were doled out to Ryanair, who got the biggest fine of €108m (£90m), followed by EasyJet’s penalty of €29m (£24m).

Vueling, the budget arm of British Airways owner IAG, has been fined €39m (£32m), while Norwegian Airlines and Volotea have been fined €1.6m (£1.3m) and €1.2m (£1m) respectively.

Irish carrier Ryanair was singled out for a controversial check-in charge where passengers pay a “disproportionate amount” to print their boarding pass at the terminal.

The Spanish Ministry of Consumer Affairs issued sanctions against airlines that had made “very serious” violations of consumer regulations adding that they provided misleading information and were not transparent with prices, “which hinders consumers’ ability to compare offers” and make informed decisions.

The ministry is prohibiting charges for hand luggage and reserving adjacent seats for children. Further complaints revolved around not allowing cash payments at Spanish airports and lack of price clarity on their websites. 

Ryanair, easyJet and Norwegian said that they had filed administrative appeals against the fines.

Michael O’Leary, Ryanair CEO, called the fines “illegal” and “baseless”. He said:

“These illegal and baseless fines, have been invented by Spain’s Consumer Affairs Ministry for political reasons, are clearly in breach of EU law. Ryanair has for many years used bag fees and airport check-in fees to change passenger behaviour and we pass on these cost savings in the form of lower fares to consumers.

“Today’s illegal fines in Spain are in breach of EU law (Reg 1008/2008) and will be overturned by the EU Courts, which have repeatedly defended the right of all EU airlines to set prices and policies, free from Government interference.”

The Spanish Airlines Association (ALA) called the fines “nonsense” that “turns its back on the EU and undermines the free market”. The president of ALA, Javier Gándara said:

“If implemented, the resolution of the Ministry of Consumption would cause irreparable harm to passengers, as it would violate their freedom to tailor their trip to their needs and force them to pay for services they may not need. Currently, nearly 50 million passengers travel without cabin luggage and, with the decision of the Ministry of Consumption, they will be forced to subsidize this service for the rest of passengers,” 

A spokesperson for easyJet said:

“We completely disagree with the decision of the Spanish Consumer Ministry and find the proposed sanctions outrageous. We will be formally appealing this through the courts and will vigorously defend our position. All of our customers can bring a small cabin bag for free which gives them the flexibility to only pay for what they want to. We consider our bag policy to be in line with all applicable laws and as such there is no change to our current cabin bag policy.”