Budget airliners penalized €179m in Spain over passenger rights violations

Five low-cost airlines; Ryanair, EasyJet, Vueling, Norwegian Air, and Volotea, have been fined a total of €179 million ($187 million) by Spain’s Ministry of Consumer Affairs for actions considered to be “abusive” to customers.

The penalties target a number of practices that have been widely condemned as being unfair, such as charging passengers for carry-on bags, charging excessive fees to print boarding passes at airport terminals, and charging travelers to reserve adjacent seats for dependent individuals or children.

Based on the profits made from these methods, the penalties were determined, with Ryanair being hit with the highest penalty of €107.8 million, followed by Vueling (€39.3 million), EasyJet (€29.1 million), Norwegian (€1.6 million), and Volotea (€1.2 million).

In addition, the Ministry faulted airlines for not allowing cash payments at airports and for not providing enough information on prices, which made it more difficult for customers to evaluate different alternatives.

While explicitly forbidding the continuance of such conduct, the Ministry stressed that the penalties were intended to be reasonable and serve as a deterrence against such violations in the future.

Pablo Bustinduy, the minister of consumer affairs, defended the ruling, as reported by CiberCuba, saying that no company is above the law and that safeguarding customers is a top concern.

Javier Gándara, the president of the Airlines Association (ALA), stated that the airlines will appeal the sanctions and seek preventive measures, underlining that the sanctions are harmful to the Spanish aviation and tourism sectors.