Is a trolley a luxury you have to pay extra for when flying? If it were up to the airlines, it would be, but 90% of European travellers believe that hand luggage should be included in the ticket price. Now, consumer rights organisations are urging policy-makers to anchor free hand luggage into EU law.
Low-cost airlines Ryanair, Vueling, EasyJet, and Wizzair already charge extra for hand luggage, but now the Netherlands' flag carrier KLM is also launching a project that requires passengers to pay extra on some flights.
"But 90% of travellers do not think this is okay," said Laura Clays, spokesperson for Belgian consumer rights organisation Testachts. In May, the organisation was one of 16 in a Europe-wide complaint (coordinated by the European Consumer Organisation BEUC) against airlines.
Testachts and its European umbrella organisation Euroconsumers are condemning the practice, and stating that the Court of Justice of the European Union ruled that hand luggage should be included in the ticket price, and consumers must be able to compare ticket prices accurately.
Nearly €50 extra
A survey of more than 3,840 consumers in Belgium, Italy, Spain, and Portugal found that travellers agree: of the Belgian participants, 90% believe that hand luggage should be included in the ticket price, 91% are calling for uniform dimensions for all airlines, and 63% support consumer organisations' actions to tackle these illegal surcharges.
However, the days when hand luggage was included in the price of a plane ticket are over: many airlines – especially low-cost carriers – charge for hand luggage. Despite the fact that hand luggage of "reasonable size" is considered necessary by the Court of Justice of the European Union, an average surcharge of €49.10 is now added.
"As these surcharges are only added during the booking process, it is difficult for consumers to compare prices between airlines. 71% of respondents to our survey consider these surcharges misleading and solely intended to generate additional profit," said Clays.
This is also confirmed in the annual reports of some airlines, where "ancillary revenues" (such as various surcharges) run into the hundreds of millions.
Ryanair is one of the airlines already charging extra for hand luggage. Credit: Belga/Nicolas Maeterlinck
In May, Testachats even took Ryanair to court for misleading practices, including those related to hand luggage surcharges. However, the company told The Brussels Times at the time that it welcomed the lawsuit, and stated that its booking flow pricing and bags policies are "transparent and fully comply with EU law."
Ryanair also stressed that it allows each passenger to carry a "generous (40x25x20 cm) personal bag" on board for free, as part of its basic air fare. For comparison, Brussels Airlines allows passengers to carry significantly larger bags (55x40x23 cm) as free hand luggage.
But other low-cost airlines also allow larger bags than Ryanair: EasyJet applies 45x36x20 cm dimensions, and even WizzAir and Vueling allow for slightly larger bags (40x30x20 cm).
European passenger rights reform
Currently, negotiations are underway at the EU level regarding passenger rights reform – including the amount of time passengers will have to wait before they can claim compensation for a delayed flight – and their enforcement. Also among the issues on the table is a rule allowing consumers to take both a small personal item and a suitcase weighing up to 7 kg free of charge – but nothing has yet been definitively approved.
The office of Belgium's Mobility Minister Jean-Luc Crucke (Les Engagés) confirmed that an amendment to the text was tabled in the European Parliament, which aims to establish a maximum weight and size.
"Airlines would no longer be allowed to charge a surcharge for any luggage below these measurements. At first glance, the rationale behind this amendment seems sound," Crucke's spokesperson Britt Monten told The Brussels Times.
"However, it remains to be seen whether the European Parliament will ultimately adopt the proposed amendment. Only then will Belgium have to vote again on the amended text," she explained. "We are closely following the discussion."
