Ryanair fined €108m in Spain for ‘abusive’ extra charges

Ryanair has been fined €108 million in a Spanish government clampdown on “abusive” airline practices such as charging for extra hand luggage and reserving seats.
The Dublin-based carrier is among five low-cost airlines, including easyJet and Vueling, to have been hit with financial penalties totalling €179 million by Spain’s consumer rights ministry.
Vueling, owned by British Airways’ Spanish parent company International Airlines Group, was fined €39 million and EasyJet €29 million. Norwegian and Volotea, based in Barcelona, were fined €1.6 million and €1.2 million respectively.
The details of the fines, first announced in May, were made public after appeals lodged by the low-cost airlines were formally dismissed.
The ministry said it would ban some of the “abusive” practices at airlines, including charging extra fees for taking hand luggage on to the aircraft and reserving seats to accompany children or other dependant people.
The budget carriers could also face a ban on charging what the ministry described as “disproportionate and abusive” fees for printing boarding passes. They were also fined for “misleading omissions” from pricing information which the ministry argued made it harder for consumers to compare prices.
The airlines said they would appeal against the fines through the courts. Michael O’Leary, the chief executive of Ryanair, argued that the fines were “illegal” and would “destroy the ability of low-cost airlines to pass on cost savings to consumers via lower fares”.
He said the laws used to levy the fines were based on “ancient 1960s” legislation that predated Spain joining the European Union. “These illegal and baseless fines, which have been invented by Spain’s consumer affairs ministry for political reasons, are clearly in breach of EU law, ” O’Leary said.
He added: “The success of Ryanair and other low-fare airlines in Spain and across Europe in recent years is entirely due to Europe’s open-skies regime and the freedom of airlines to set prices and policies without interference from national governments.”
The Airline Association, the Madrid-based industry body, said the decision was “nonsensical” and would make Spain the only country in the EU to ban the practice of charging for cabin baggage.
Javier Gándara, president of the ALA, said: “The resolution, if implemented, would cause irreparable harm to passengers by infringing on their freedom to customise their travel according to their needs, forcing them to pay for services they may not require.
“Currently, around 50 million passengers travel without cabin baggage and this decision would compel them to subsidise this service for other passengers.”
Pablo Bustinduy, the minister of consumer affairs, said: “These are practices that, unfortunately, millions of people know first-hand and that consumer associations have been complaining about for years. No company, no matter how big or powerful, is above the law … there cannot be business models that are based on the violation of consumer rights or abusive practices.”
A spokesman 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.”
A spokesman for Norwegian said: “Norwegian is committed to providing safe, affordable travel, and our baggage policy reflects that. We believe it aligns with EU regulations and is essential for managing weight and limited space on board, ensuring passenger safety, and maintaining on-time performance. We strongly disagree with the Spanish decision, and will follow up on the matter with both Spanish and EU authorities.”
Shares in Ryanair, which is listed on Dublin’s stock exchange, were 0.1 per cent lower on Friday afternoon. Shares in easyJet, which is listed in London, were up 5½p, or 1.1 per cent, at 517½p.