A new lawsuit has been won for imposing illegal carry-on fees. The First Instance and Investigation Court No. 1 of Vitigudino, in Salamanca, has ordered Ryanair to compensate a FACUA Castilla y León member for the €147 she had to pay to fly with her baggage in the cabin on five flights she made between 2019 and 2024.
Judge Raquel Martínez Marco affirmed the affected party’s claim, saying that “carry-on luggage is an essential element of passenger transportation and cannot be subject to a price supplement.” The decision cannot be appealed.
This is the fifth court verdict in favour of consumers that FACUA-Consumers in Action has obtained in recent months over this fraud. In April, the Third Court of First Instance and Investigation of Huesca condemned Vueling, while the Ninth Court of First Instance of Valladolid sentenced Ryanair. In February, the Second Commercial Court of San Sebastián took the same action against Vueling. Cádiz’s Sixth Court of First Instance punished Ryanair last December. These forms of cases are free for the user because they do not have to be filed with a lawyer or solicitor.
Last November, Pablo Bustinduy, the Minister of Social Rights, Consumption, and the 2030 Agenda, penalised five airlines with €179 million for these and other violations. FACUA has been denouncing the illegal tax on hand luggage since 2018.
The recent verdict against Ryanair applies to five flights taken by the aggrieved party, Yolanda Garrido Legarreta, and her daughter between March 2019 and the same month in 2024. Specifically, a maiden trip from Madrid to London and Manchester to Madrid in 2019, followed by trips from Madrid to Mallorca and Mallorca to Valladolid in 2023, and a final voyage from Madrid to Milan in 2024.
In all of these cases, the two impacted customers had to pay the so-called Priority extra in addition to their tickets to bring their carry-on luggage onboard the plane, which is a compact suitcase containing basic necessities such as clothing and personal possessions. “The suitcases fit perfectly in the overhead compartments, but Ryanair forced me to pay extra if I wanted to take them on the plane ,” a traveller writes.
Yolanda is one of hundreds of users who have joined FACUA’s campaign to complain and report the illegal fee for hand luggage. Anyone impacted can register at FACUA.org/aerofraudes.
As part of this campaign, the user told FACUA Castilla y León that Ryanair had charged her an extra price for five flights, totalling €146.78. “When I found out I could claim a refund for all those trips I’d taken, I didn’t hesitate to join the campaign and tell FACUA about my case,” Yolanda says. The association’s legal team subsequently contacted the airline, demanding an immediate refund because the charges had been utterly irregular.
In this regard, Article 97 of the Air Navigation Act of 1960 states unequivocally that “the carrier shall be obliged to transport, along with the passengers and within the price of the ticket, the luggage […].” Security concerns, such as weight or size in relation to the aircraft’s characteristics, may disallow the boarding of various items and packages. However, the rule does not apply to those impacted.
Ryanair, on the other hand, never reacted to the claims filed by the association on Yolanda’s behalf, so she decided to take the next step and sue the firm to get her money back.
Historical complaint from FACUA
In October 2021, FACUA submitted its first complaint with the Ministry of Consumer Affairs against the cost for travelling with hand luggage, targeting Vueling especially. In 2018, it filed complaints against Ryanair and Wizzair with the State Aviation Safety body and the National Commission on Markets and Competition (CNMC) for the same reason, but neither body took any action.
Last November, Minister Bustinduy signed five sanctions papers, totalling 179 million euros for this and other violations.
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