The Spanish government has fined Ryanair more than €100 million for charging extra for hand luggage and excessive fees for printing tickets at the airport.
Spain’s Ministry for Consumer Affairs has sanctioned five budget airlines: Ryanair, Vueling, Easyjet, Norwegian and Volotea.
Ireland’s Ryanair has received by far the biggest fine of €107,775,777
The Spanish government says Ryanair’s (and other budget airlines’) policy of charging for hand luggage is an “abusive practice”.
It will now be prohibited to charge a supplement for hand luggage on flights to Spain.
Airlines will also not be allowed to charge extra to allow minors and dependent persons and their companions to reserve adjacent seats.
The five airlines were also criticised for “misleading omissions of information and lack of clarity” on pricing. The ministry said this made it “difficult for consumers to compare price[s]”.
Ryanair says the fines violate EU law and the company will immediately appeal “against [these] illegal and unfounded fines”. It says the fines had been imposed for “political reasons”.
In a statement, the CEO of Ryanair Group, Michael O’Leary, said:
“For many years, Ryanair has used baggage and check-in fees at airports to modify passenger behaviour, transforming this into cost savings for consumers in the form of lower fares.
Today’s illegal fines in Spain violate EU law (Regulation 1008/2008) and will be overturned by EU courts.”