The Spanish government has slapped five low-cost airlines with fines totaling more than €179 million (US $186 million) for ‘abusive’ practices that include charging passengers for hand luggage, imposing surcharges for printing boarding passes at the airport, and making parents pay extra to have a guaranteed seat next to their child.
The ruling from Spain’s Ministry of Consumer Affairs also bans airlines from imposing these kinds of ancillary fees on passengers – a decision that could have major ramifications for low-cost carriers that have based their business models on charging additional fees.
The five airlines to be named and shamed by the Spanish government are Ryanair, Vueling, EasyJet, Norwegian, and Volotea.
Ryanair received by far the biggest fine with the Irish low-cost carrier ordered to pay more than €107 million for what Pablo Bustinduy, the General Secretariat of Consumer Affairs, described as “very serious” violations of consumer regulations.
Spanish budget carrier Vueling, which is owned by the company that also counts British Airways and Iberia amongst its airline brands, was fined more than €39 million, and EasyJet received a penalty of €29 million.
Norwegian and Volotea were slapped with much smaller fines of €1.6 million and €1.18 million respectively.
The Spanish government opened an investigation into the ancillary fee practices last year following allegations that airlines had been brazenly breaching a longstanding Spanish law that has been in place since the 1960s.
The law expressly forbids airlines from charging additional fees for a range of services, including for bringing hand luggage into the cabin, charging excessive fees to print a boarding pass at the airport, and charging parents or guardians to sit beside their child.
It’s also against the law not to allow passengers to pay for their tickets in cash at Spanish airports, and, in the case of Ryanair, the Ministry of Consumer Affairs, said it was fining the airline for charging a “disproportionate” fee to print tickets at the airport.
Ryanair lashed out at the ruling, slamming the decision as “illegal and unfounded.”
The airline’s often outspoken chief executive, Michael O’Leary, openly admitted that Ryanair deliberately charges for hand luggage in order to make the boarding process as quick as possible.
“For many years, Ryanair has used baggage and check-in rates at airports to modify passenger behavior, transforming this into cost savings for consumers in the form of lower rates,” O’Leary said following the ruling.
“The success of Ryanair and other low-cost airlines in Spain and throughout Europe in recent years is entirely due to the Open Skies regime in Europe and the freedom of airlines to establish prices and policies without interference from national governments, which is precisely what these illegal fines from Spain intend to undermine.”
Unsurprisingly, Ryanair said it would be launching a legal appeal to challenge the fines. The Spanish government said the airlines would have two months to file their appeals.
