Spain fines Ryanair, easyJet, others $187 million over cabin luggage fees

MADRID (Reuters) -Spain’s Consumer Rights Ministry has fined budget airlines Ryanair, easyJet, Vueling, Norwegian and Volotea a combined 179 million euros ($187 million) for practices such as charging for cabin luggage, it said on Friday.

The ministry upheld the fines that were announced in May and dismissed the appeals lodged by companies.

It said in a statement the airlines violated customer rights when charging for larger carry-on luggage, picking seats or boarding pass printouts and not allowing cash payments at check-in desks or to buy items on board.

Ryanair was fined 108 million euros, while IAG’s low-cost unit Vueling was fined 39 million euros, easyJet 29 million euros, Norwegian 1.6 million euros and Volotea 1.2 million euros.

Spanish airlines industry group ALA will appeal the fine in court, it said in a separate statement.

The fines are a challenge to budget airlines’ business models, which hinge on charging rock-bottom fees for tickets and adding supplemental fees for things like larger carry-on bags that were previously not charged by traditional airlines.

ALA called the ministry’s decision “nonsense” and said it violated free market rules and European Union rules, and if applied, would force as many as 50 million passengers, who travel with a small bag, to pay for services they do not need.

($1 = 0.9541 euros)

(Reporting by Inti Landauro, editing by Andrei Khalip)