Ryanair’s new baggage fees investigated by Italian watchdog – that says hand luggage MUST be free
Low cost airline Ryanair is being looked at by Italian consumer group Antitrust
RYANAIR’S new hand luggage fees are to be investigated by an Italian watchdog.
The airline recently announced that it would start charging passengers £8 (€8) for a second piece of hand luggage to go into the plane’s hold, which is currently free to bring on board.
Passengers are allowed to bring one small item such as a laptop or handbag on board for free.
The reports that Italian consumer group Antitrust is now looking into the new fees as a result, having ruled that hand luggage is “an essential element” to travel.
It says that hand luggage should therefore be included in the price.
The group also said that the new policy could be ruled as unfair commercial practice because it is now not clear to passengers what the final ticket price will be when they first look at prices of fares.
Codacons, an Italian consumer rights group added that if it’s ruled that the new policy is ruled as unfair on customers, the airline “should reimburse all its customers who suffer unfair additional costs.”
Kenny Jacobs from Ryanair said: “We look forward to cooperating with this Italian inquiry.
"All Ryanair customers are free to bring one piece of carry-on bag onboard.
"But no airline customer has a right to unlimited carry-on bags. For safety reasons, most short haul aircraft cannot accommodate two carry-on bags for each customer.
"From November, half our customers will continue to bring two free bags onboard and the other half will continue to travel with one free small bag (which has been increased by 40 per cent in size) and can, if they so choose, check-in a second 10kg bag for a new lower fee of €8 (currently Ryanair’s lowest cost check bag is €25)."
He continued: "All other airlines, including Alitalia, Easyjet and BA, restrict the volume of carry-on bags for safety reasons. We look forward to explaining these safety restrictions and generous carry-on bag policy to the Italian authority.”
We previously revealed that Ryanair made £1.8billion extra last year from add-ons such as baggage and seat charges.
Research from IdeaWorks has shown that the airline made 28 per cent of its profits from extras last year.
The research has shown that the airline made more from added extras than any other airline outside of the United States.
The number of passengers paying for allocated seats has doubled, while those paying for priority boarding has gone up fivefold.
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On Ryanair passengers will pay £15 for extra legroom, and £4 for allocated seats or £13 for allocated seats at the front of the plane.
Other extra charges include £20 to print a boarding pass at the airport and £25 to check in a bag of 20kg.
Changing the name on a booking costs £115 if done online, or £160 at the airport.