Braga court says it is illegal for Ryanair to charge passengers for cabin bags
In what the media in Portugal is calling an “unprecedented decision”, low-cost Irish airline Ryanair has been condemned by the court of Braga for charging passengers additional fees for cabin bags.
The decision was announced following a case brought by a Portuguese citizen against the airline, but it will apply now to every citizen bringing a case against Ryanair for the same situation.
As Renato Silva who flies twice a month for work has explained to SIC Notícias, Ryanair always charges him extra for carrying his cabin bag even when it complies with all legal requirements (as advertised by airlines generally).
“I think it’s wrong because if it were right, they (other airline companies) would all charge”, says Silva.
And Braga District Court has agreed with him, following a case brought by another consumer, over exactly the same thing.
The upshot of Braga’s decision is that it is now illegal for Ryanair to charge passengers for carrying cabin bags – certainly in the eyes of Portuguese law.
In his judgement, António Oliveira Mestre ordered the airline to repay the passenger in question the amount he/ she had been charged in ‘extra fees’ (€56.50), saying “you cannot overcharge when people comply with all the applicable rules”: it is a violation of consumer rights.
While other low-cost airlines may have jumped on to the Ryanair bandwagon, travellers and consumer rights associations have been trying their luck at complaining. In May, for example, the Spanish Ministry of Consumer Affairs fined Ryanair, Vueling and EasyJet €150 million for charging abusive fees to passengers carrying cabin luggage.
Thus Braga’s decision is “extremely important”, according to Octávio Viana, of civic association Citizen’s Voice, it shows people in this country what their rights are, “particularly in terms of compensation”.
On this point, Citizen’s Voice estimates that the damage caused by this practice in relation to customers who are resident in Portugal could reach €10 billion euros.
There are various cases just like the one judged by António Oliveira Mestre before the courts right now – and according to Octávio Viana, Judge Mestre’s ruling has set a precedent: after this decision, all cases over ‘extra charges for cabin bags’ should come to the same conclusion: they are illegal.
SIC says it has tried to contact Ryanair, but (perhaps understandably) “did not receive a timely response”.
The airline should eventually have something to say as this decision looks very much like it has blown a massive hole in the Irish airline’s ‘business model’.
Or has it? According to reports in the UK, Ryanair, easyJet and WizzAir all reduced the measurements by which passengers could carry on a free bag in July this year.
According to the Daily Mail, in 2018 Ryanair allowed passengers to carry bags with the maximum volume of 55 x 44 x 20cm. Now those measurements have shrunk down to 40 x 20 x 25cm, after which charges can be applied.
Who is right? ND
Source material: SIC Notícias
