Ryanair's warning to Andalucía's regional government if it is fined for hand luggage surcharge

Irish low-cost airline Ryanair has warned that "it will appeal any fine before the Spanish and EU courts", if Andalucía's regional health and consumer affairs ministry enforces a sanction on the company for charging for hand luggage. Ryanair has stated that the Junta's decision would be a "breach of European Union (EU) legislation".

"This is only a preliminary decision by a local authority. If Seville's consumer affairs service imposes a fine on Ryanair, as it has threatened to do, it will be acting in breach of EU law, just as the minister for social rights, consumer affairs and agenda, Pablo Bustinduy, has done," the company stated.

The regional health and consumer affairs ministry announced that it would sanction the airline for charging passengers who travel with hand luggage, following complaints issued by the independent consumer organisation Facua Sevilla on behalf of five clients.

According to regional ministry sources, the sanction file was still being processed on Wednesday 12 February. At the moment, the 46,250-euro fine for a "serious" infringement is only a proposal.

Facua Sevilla has submitted a request for the infringement to be increased to "very serious", which would raise the amount of the fine to 60,001-1,000,000 euros. "The proposed resolution cites up to 22 court rulings that have deemed these practices illegal," Facua stated.

The consumer organisation has said that these charges are an "abusive" practice that breaches the Air Navigation Act, which states that "the carrier is obliged to transport free of charge in the cabin, as hand luggage, the objects and packages that the passenger carries with them", and only provides as an exception "safety reasons, linked to the weight or size of the object in relation to the characteristics of the aircraft".