New hand luggage policy results in €3 million fine for Ryanair.
Hand luggage measures introduced in late 2018 have resulted in a massive Ryanair fine from the Italian Competition Authority.
Although it used to be free to bring a 10kilo suitcase on a Ryanair flight, charges for hand luggage were introduced in November 2018 and small bags are now only permitted if they fit under the seats on the passenger in front.
If you do want to bring larger luggage on board, you need to pay extra fees and pay for priority boarding which has resulted in much larger queues and caused frustration for people who regularly use the priority option.
According to reports, a €1 million fine was also imposed on WizzAir in relation to some of their policies.
A statement from the Italian Competition Authority reads:
“Hand baggage is an essential element of the air transport service and its transport must be permitted without incurring any additional costs.
“In fact, also on the basis of the European legislation on air transport, the foreseeable and unavoidable supplements must be included in the price of the basic service presented since the first contact and, therefore, can not be separated from this with the request for further sums.
“Hence the deception for consumers, as the price to be paid at the end of the booking process will almost always be higher than the tariff presented at the beginning of the process.”
