Valencian judge finds Ryanair subsidiary luggage supplement ‘abusive’

Valencian judge finds Ryanair subsidiary luggage supplement ‘abusive’

A judge in Valencia’s Commercial Court No5, on Thursday, December 9, declared a luggage supplement charged by a Ryanair subsidiary as abusive. Laudamotion was the company responsible for this incident, charging a Valencian passenger for taking his hand luggage with him on a flight from Valencia to Vienna, in August 2019.

As stated in the judgment – to which EFE has had access – the luggage in question was the most common rectangular wheeled suitcase on this type of flight. It did not exceed the 10 kilos allowed, and did not exceed the authorised dimensions.

The dispute that the court had to analyse in this instance was whether an airline can charge a passenger a supplement “for transporting their hand luggage, understanding the term not as a small bag, or purchases made at the airport, but as those additional suitcases or backpacks in which the passenger carries their personal belongings”.

Jose Enrique Segrelles, the lawyer representing the Valencian passenger in this process, alluded to article 97 of the Air Navigation Law. This law stipulates that “the carrier will be obliged to transport together with the traveller, and within the price of the ticket, luggage with weight limits, regardless of the number of packages and volume set by the regulations”.

In the ruling, the court refers to this article, and to the case-law of the Court of Justice of the European Union, to conclude that “the plaintiff’s claim must be estimated at an amount of €25, since it must be considered that said hand luggage is an essential element of passenger transport, and that its transport, therefore, cannot be subject to a supplement”.

Laudamotion had referred to Ryanair’s general contracting conditions, pointing out that said rates “are not covered by EU regulations, and cannot but be considered abusive, by curtailing the rights that the passenger has recognized by law”.

Consequently, the airline must return the €25 to the passenger that was charged as a supplement – plus the legal interest – and pay the procedural costs, as reported by larazon.es.

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