A coalition of consumer groups from 16 European countries and the European Consumer Organization have made a formal complaint to the European Commission charging that seven budget airlines are charging illegal fees for hand-carried luggage.
The airlines named include Europe’s biggest budget carriers: EasyJet, Norwegian Air Shuttle, Ryanair, Transavia, Volotea, Vueling, and Wizz Air. The groups charge that the airlines’ fees violate a European Court of Justice ruling from 2014 that “the carriage of hand luggage cannot be subject to a surcharge, provided that it meets reasonable requirements in terms of weight and dimensions.”
Spain has recently imposed multi-million Euro fines on several of the airlines over this issue.
The complaint not only challenges the fees, but also the fact that the airlines have no common standard on acceptable size and weight, making it difficult for consumers to know whether a bag that is accepted by one airline will incur a charge on their return.
The airlines’ responses to this and previous complaints have largely been to argue that they are, in fact, meeting the requirement by allowing small items such as purses and small backpacks free; it will be up to authorities, it appears, to come up with a reasonable definition of ‘reasonable.’
I had not looked into making a booking with Easyjet or Ryanair for quite a while – and quickly found out that the overall fare jumps dramatically as soon as you include any type of luggage. I had not realised until then that they had started charging for hand luggage. Needless to say, I pressed the little ‘x’ in the top right corner when I saw the totals.