Ryanair cabin crew on strike today

Italian competition watchdog is the latest to hit-out on budget airline's new policy

Distruptions are expected to Ryanair flights throughout Europe today (Friday, September 28) as cabin crew unions in Spain, Italy, Belgium and Holland are on a 24-hour strike.

RYANAIR’S new policy to charge passengers to take hand luggage onto planes is being investigated by Italy’s competition watchdog Antitrust.

The competition authority considers hand luggage is an “essential element” in travelling and should be included in the ticket price rather than as an add-on, allowing easier comparisons across the market.

The budget carrier announced last month that from November people with nonpriority seats – normally the cheapest fares – will only be able to take one “small personal bag” onto flights, as long as it fits under the seat in front; such as a handbag or laptop case.

They will have to pay €9 to check in a carry-on bag of up to 10kg, until the change these were wheeled out to the aircraft and loaded into the hold before takeoff.

Ryanair said the new re- gime was not about making money but was intended to 'improve punctuality and reduce boarding gate delays'.

However, Antitrust believes hand luggage is 'an essential element of transport' and is examining whether the airline is employing an unfair com- mercial practice – distorting the final ticket price and making it more difficult for consumers to make a true comparison between air industry rivals.

Consumer groups in Italy have complained to the competition watchdog. The associ- ation Codacons announced that if unfair commercial practice was confirmed, Ryanair should reimburse affected passengers and said it was prepared to go to court if necessary.

Here in Spain, a few days after Ryanair announced its new policies the two major con- sumer associations Facua and OCU made similar complaints to the Spanish ministry of transport over the luggage charges.

Bookings already made

On September 6 Ryanair announced it would give a free 10kg check bag to all non-priority customers who booked before 31 August (when the new charges were announced) to travel after 1 November, the date when Ryanair introduces its new hand luggage policy.

The airline also said that there are approximately 50,000 passengers who booked before August 31 but bought priority boarding (as a separate service) after September 1. Ryanair claims all these passengers have had the €8 cost of their priority boarding refunded but Ryanair will still allow them to travel with priority boarding free of charge.