Collective claims for flight cancellations, delays or time changes; six years of confrontation over the decision to impose an additional charge for carry the suitcase into the cabin; complaints about lost luggage; a whole crusade against the denial of access to the plane by overbooking, or the demand for free customer service telephone numbers… The battle between consumer associations, such as OCU and Facua, against the airlines goes back a long way and continues for multiple reasons. But the climactic moment occurred yesterday, Friday, before the historic sanctioning file of the Ministry of Social Rights and Consumer Affairs against the commercial policy of Ryanair, Easyjet, Vueling and Volotea, leaders of low-cost flights in this country. The penalty, for a total of 150 million and still not final, is the highest ever imposed by Consumption, and faces arguments from both parties; including domestic and community regulations.
The relationship between airline and traveler has never been easy, but the monumental corrective can well be explained from two specific moments: November 1, 2018, when Ryanair begins to charge eight euros for luggage in the cabin, and May 28, 2022, when the Ministry of Consumer Affairs then led by Alberto Garzón assumed the sanctioning power, until then in the hands of municipal and regional consumer administrations, through a royal decree that modified the Consumer Defense Law and the Consumer Protection Law. Unfair Competition.
From the Government, practices that in recent years had become common, especially in the low-cost segment, are now described as abusive and contrary to consumer regulations: the extra charge for reserving the adjacent seat to accompany minors or dependent people; require an additional payment for the transportation of a small suitcase (trolley) In cabin; the opacity in the pre-contractual information on the final price of the ticket, and the prohibition of payment in cash both at the airport and during the flight.
Former Minister Garzón, currently without a political platform, went to his account on the social network It cost us a lot, but we managed to approve a rule to change it.” As a rubric, the emoticon of a closed fist.
In addition to a fine that the Association of Airlines (ALA) considers “disproportionate”, the sector is risking the prohibition of this type of commercial policies in Spain. User organizations such as OCU and Facua assert that airlines have been failing to comply with consumer and airline sector regulations for years. The Air Navigation Law establishes the obligation of the airline to transport “free of charge in the cabin, as hand luggage, the objects and packages that the traveler carries with them.” Of course, it makes exceptions related to security and that concern the weight and size of the luggage, as well as the characteristics of the plane. Regarding Royal Legislative Decree 1/2007, which approves the consolidated text of the General Law for the Defense of Consumers and Users, article 82 considers as abusive all those clauses or stipulations “not individually negotiated and all those practices not expressly consented to that cause, to the detriment of the consumer and user, a significant imbalance in the rights and parties derived from the contract.”
Airlines, for their part, charge the consumer under the protection of Regulation 1008/2008 of the European Parliament and of the Council, which established fare freedom. It is foreseeable that ordinary justice will have to resolve this clash of interpretations.
The companies under inspection have until mid-June to present an appeal to the Minister of Social Affairs and Consumer Affairs, Pablo Bustinduy, and he will have three months to respond. If they do not see the file decline, the companies will take legal action and demand precautionary measures so as not to have to withdraw their commercial policies. Hence, the president of ALA, Javier Gándara, maintained yesterday at a press conference that it is not at all foreseeable that they will stop charging for the trolley on board in the short term.
The 150 million with which the four could be punished low cost They are far from the 3.1 million that the Andalusian Government imposed on Unicaja in 2017 for the case of floor clauses in mortgages, or the more than 5 million that the Community of Madrid imposed on various mobile companies for rounding to the nearest increase in call charges.
Debate in Europe
That in Europe there is no consensus on what can be considered hand luggage, free of charge, is proven by the fact that the Petitions Committee of the European Parliament demanded that the European Commission standardize, in collaboration with the airline sector, the dimensions and weights. They were there when the bomb fell in Spain.
Javier Gándara, from ALA, explains that “all airlines allow carry-on luggage that can go under the front seat, and some charge an additional fee for it.” trolley, while others do not. We believe that it is explained clearly, but we are at the disposal of the Ministry of Consumer Affairs and the associations to improve transparency.” The OCU argues, on the contrary, that hand luggage “must be considered an indispensable element of passenger transportation and, therefore, cannot be subject to a supplement in the price of the plane ticket.” That is, it recognizes that companies have the power to determine the size of the suitcase that can fly with the passenger, but they cannot charge an extra for that. trolley.
If ALA speaks of a resolution that is “unilateral and behind the back of the EU”, the Organization of Consumers and Users hopes that the sanction will serve as an example for other European authorities. While the processing of the appeals lasts, it is not foreseeable that there will be any turning back on the part of the airlines. In fact, the president of ALA, Javier Gándara, regrets that there may be a stir at the boarding gates due to a resolution that is not firm and against an action, that of the airlines, that he considers to be within community regulations.
In addition to the issue of trolley, Consumption also considers the charge for seat selection when traveling with dependents to be a very serious infraction, and has described as serious the prohibition of payment in cash when purchasing tickets at airports and the lack of clarity in the published prices. . It is suspected that some airlines start from ultra-low fares that guarantee good positions in search engines and booking engines, and use the segmented pricing strategy to raise the final bill faced by the traveler. The general secretary of Facua, Rubén Sánchez, spoke yesterday of six years of battle “to get the authorities to act against practices by which airlines have been illegally inflating their profits.” His association encourages a crusade of affected users demanding their money.
Before going through the consumer table, Facua’s complaints in defense of trolley With a free seat on board, he was in the general direction of the Balearic Government, where open sanctioning files against Ryanair (2021) and Vueling (2022) were filed so that these could be resolved by the central Government with higher penalties. The State Aviation Safety Agency and the National Markets and Competition Commission (CNMC) also received complaints regarding this matter, which did not open any proceedings in this regard.
In the case of mandatory card payment on flights, there have been complaints from the OCU since February 2023 against Iberia, Ib
eria Express, Air Europa, Iberojet, Plus Ultra, Volotea, Wamos and Worl2Fly. The demands were presented to the general directorates of Consumer Affairs of Madrid, Catalonia and the Balearic Islands. The General Law for the Defense of Consumers and Users was modified in May 2022 precisely to include among consumer infractions the refusal to accept cash as a means of payment.
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