The Brussels Commercial Court has opened a case against Irish low-cost airline Ryanair for "misleading practices" in the booking process, brought by consumer organisation Testachats.
As three previous complaints filed with the Economic Inspectorate yielded no results, Testachats (with the support of its umbrella organisation Euroconsumers) has now taken the company to court.
Due to the lack of transparency when booking certain options, and particularly the fact that Ryanair charges for hand luggage, the organisation is arguing that consumer rights are being violated. European regulations stipulate that when booking a flight, the full price must be visible in advance so that consumers can compare.
However, this is not the case with Ryanair, argues Testachats. The consumer organisation also refers to the European Court of Justice, which states that hand luggage of a reasonable size must be an integral part of the ticket price.
Consumers booking a flight with Ryanair have to choose between different bundles: Basic, Regular, Plus or Flexi Plus. If they want to take hand luggage, the 'Regular' fare seems to be the right choice. This bundle gives passengers instant priority boarding and lets them choose their own seats.
'Generously-sized' hand luggage
In a previous response to The Brussels Times, Ryanair said it "welcomed the filing of this false claims injunction" by Testachats. The company added that the injunction will confirm that its booking flow pricing and bags policies are "transparent and fully comply with EU law, which grants all EU airlines the freedom to set prices, including prices of optional services."
The airline pointed out, for example, that each passenger is allowed to bring a bag measuring 40x25x20 cm free of charge, which it considers to be "a generous size."
For comparison, Brussels Airlines allows passengers to carry significantly larger bags (55x40x23 cm) as hand luggage than Ryanair. Other low-cost airlines also allow larger bags than Ryanair: EasyJet applies 45x36x20 cm dimensions, but even WizzAir and Vueling allow for slightly larger bags (40x30x20 cm).
The Brussels Commercial Court has scheduled the hearings in the lawsuit for 5 November.
