Government of Catalonia fines Ryanair €40,000 for ‘unfair’ commercial practices

Ryanair has been fined €40,000 by the Catalonian Government for what Fauca described as ‘unfair’ commercial practices relating to the difficulty of flights being reimbursed during the pandemic.

The Government of Catalonia has today, Thursday, October 20, fined budget airline Ryanair €40,000 for making it difficult for users to reimburse flights that were cancelled due to the coronavirus pandemic. 

Sources from the agency confirmed that following a complaint by Facua, the fine was imposed by the Agencia Catalana del Consum (ACC). The autonomous body explained that the sanction responds to ‘unfair’ commercial practices by action or omission practiced by the airline that caused, or may have caused, economic issues for users that they would not otherwise have had.

Facua denounced Ryanair in March 2020 for ‘excessively dilating’ the maximum term for the refund of the amounts. This came after the airline informed them that it could take up to 28 days after the refund request, despite the fact that European regulations require it to be done within seven days.