Spain fines five low-cost airlines €179mn for ‘abusive’ practices

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Spain has fined five low-cost airlines a total of €179mn for “abusive” practices, including charging extra fees for hand luggage and seat reservations.

Spain’s consumer ministry announced the sanctions on Friday and hit Ryanair with the biggest fine of €107mn. It has ordered Vueling to pay €39mn and easyJet €29mn. Norwegian and Volotea received smaller fines of €1.6mn and €1.9mn respectively.

The ministry said it was also banning some of the practices for which the airlines were penalised, including charging extra fees for carrying hand luggage on to the aeroplane and reserving adjacent seats for children or other dependants.

Airlines were also banned from charging “disproportionate and abusive” fees for printing boarding passes, and from making “misleading omissions” of pricing information, making it hard for consumers to compare prices, the ministry said. It also told the airlines that they must accept cash payments at Spanish airports.

The sanctions were originally imposed by Spain’s consumer affairs and gambling authorities after an investigation begun last year found “very serious” infringements of Spain’s consumer regulations.

The airlines appealed against the sanctions but the ministry said on Friday it had rejected their appeals.

It said this was the first time that sanctions classified as “very serious” had been imposed by Spain’s consumer affairs authorities since they were given sanctioning powers in 2022.

The airlines have been contacted for comment.