Legal challenge over airline baggage fees

[whatmeworry]

Legal challenge over airline baggage fees

 

[harvyk]

Interesting, however we all know what Ryanair's response will be. "We'll take our planes and go home"...
It wouldn't be the first time they have pulled out of a profitable route because they didn't like a certain condition imposed on them.

 

[whatmeworry]

I love to know if this is upheld, will other countries follow suit. However I can't see Ryanair leaving Spain considering how much the Brits and Irish love Spain.

Interesting to note that Ryanair is one of the ten most profitable airlines in the world with 6 US based airlines.

Low-cost rivals Ryanair, which last month temporarily raised its charges for checking in a bag, and easyJet, were both among the 10 highest earners, along with six US carriers: United Continental, Delta, American Airlines, US Airways, Alaska Air Group and Southwest Airlines.

 

[simongr]

I am in two minds on this. I dont intend to fly an LCC and prefer the full service model.

However why not give people the choice - if you don't need checked luggage and want to keep your costs down then why not?

Perhaps what they should do is provide discounts for people who do not check luggage rather than charge a premium for it - but then they wouldn't be able to advertise LHR-MAD for $1*

* Additional fees and taxes may apply

 

[whatmeworry]

If you go on the BA site they actually give you a price comparison between a LCC and themselves and if you need things like baggage, airport check in, snacks, drinks, seat selection etc, you would probably be ahead with BA.

Value Calculator - Ryanair | Easyjet | British Airways

 

[medhead]

Interesting to note that Ryanair is one of the ten most profitable airlines in the world with 6 US based airlines.

It does not say those are the ten most profitable airlines. It says they are the 10 highest earners from ancillary charges. Related but ultimately different.


Sent from the Throne

 

[samh004]

The problem is that the "Air Navigation Law of 1960, which states that airlines are obliged to carry a passenger's luggage, together with the passenger, as part of the price of the flight ticket" is a law from a different time, and shouldn’t really apply to todays airlines, at least not those that claim to be LCC. It should apply to those that claim to be full service.

It makes very little sense to use a law that hasn’t been updated for more than 50 years*

*I haven’t read the law, so it might have been updated, but I’m going to be too lazy this morning to do any proper research.

 

[mannej]

Sam - it's just like the prohibition law of Springfield from 100 years ago!

 

[oz_mark]

It makes very little sense to use a law that hasn’t been updated for more than 50 years*

It may well have been updated, just like the Australian Air Navigation Act 1920 gets updated. In any case, if the airlines don't like the Spanish law, they should lobby to get it changed.

 

[burmans]

I love to know if this is upheld, will other countries follow suit.

What jurisdiction is the law being referred too, I thought this was Spanish. This would determine if it affects other countries, I suspect not as we would have heard about it sooner!

 

[burmans]

If you go on the BA site they actually give you a price comparison between a LCC and themselves and if you need things like baggage, airport check in, snacks, drinks, seat selection etc, you would probably be ahead with BA.

Value Calculator - Ryanair | Easyjet | British Airways

Of course BA would choose a price with all the add-ons, the question though is whether you really need all these, many actually can do without 80% of these.

 

[anat0l]

Interesting, however we all know what Ryanair's response will be. "We'll take our planes and go home"...
It wouldn't be the first time they have pulled out of a profitable route because they didn't like a certain condition imposed on them.

I love to know if this is upheld, will other countries follow suit. However I can't see Ryanair leaving Spain considering how much the Brits and Irish love Spain.

Interesting to note that Ryanair is one of the ten most profitable airlines in the world with 6 US based airlines.

If FR pulls out then maybe the Spanish carriers might have a chance

The other way is that FR cops the charge, but then forces the ports to smaller landing fees (or pulls out of them). Or, they could just instigate a new kind of surcharge (either for Spanish routes or across the board), just like their EU 261/2004 fee.

I wonder if the European competition commission has any jurisdiction in this regard. Irrespective, it would be interesting if the legal challenge is successful. I'm not exactly sure if other countries will follow the suit of Spain if it is successful. Unless it is made EU wide (highly unlikely), the precedent set in another country is hardly of standing in another jurisdiction.

If you go on the BA site they actually give you a price comparison between a LCC and themselves and if you need things like baggage, airport check in, snacks, drinks, seat selection etc, you would probably be ahead with BA.

That is why if you book something like FR, you need to plan carefully and accept the consequences of having to go on the cheap.

When I get to finishing my latest TR I intend to outline this

That said, bag charges will almost always blow out a discount fare on an LCC. FR are also particularly strict in checking for size and weight compliance of carry-on bags at the gate, then forcing non-compliant luggage to be gate checked at the expensive "at-the-airport" rate.


Funny how we quickly (me guilty too) involved FR into this discussion in spite of the fact that the article only makes a fleeting reference to them (apart from a recent increase in checked bag fees). I guess it also stands to reason how the article was possibly made without a single repartee from the infamous Michael O'Leary.

 

[anat0l]

The problem is that the "Air Navigation Law of 1960, which states that airlines are obliged to carry a passenger's luggage, together with the passenger, as part of the price of the flight ticket" is a law from a different time, and shouldn’t really apply to todays airlines, at least not those that claim to be LCC. It should apply to those that claim to be full service.

It makes very little sense to use a law that hasn’t been updated for more than 50 years*

*I haven’t read the law, so it might have been updated, but I’m going to be too lazy this morning to do any proper research.

O/T

If my limited law course knowledge serves me correctly, the year of a law only refers to when the law was created. Updates do not change the year. The only way to change the year is to deprecate the old law and/or create a wholly new one.

 

[medhead]

O/T

If my limited law course knowledge serves me correctly, the year of a law only refers to when the law was created. Updates do not change the year. The only way to change the year is to deprecate the old law and/or create a wholly new one.

Exactly. I'm currently subject to a 1990 Act that has been amended a number of times.

The 1990 Act replaced a 1953 Act.

 

[oz_mark]

The only way to change the year is to deprecate the old law and/or create a wholly new one.

Even more O/T. I believe you repeal the law, and either replace it with a new one, or not.