Brussels, 23/01/2014 (Agence Europe) - In an opinion on case C-487/12 published on Thursday 23 January, European Court of Justice Advocate General Yves Bot argues that Spanish legislation prohibiting air carriers from charging for checking in passengers' baggage in the form of an optional price supplement is incompatible with EU law.
The Court of Justice was answering a question from a Spanish court about a dispute between Instituto Galego de Consumo de la Xunta de Galicia (a consumer body) and the Vueling airline, which was fined for charging a passenger a fee for checking in two items of baggage online. The Spanish court wanted to know whether the Spanish rules banning such supplements were compatible with the freedom to levy charges under the EU regulation on the running of airline services in the EU.
Bot says no, they are not compatible because EU law allows air carriers pricing freedom in respect of all commercial services associated with the performance of the contract of carriage by air, including services such as checking in baggage. Accordingly, with regard to the pricing of checked-in baggage, the air carriers have the option of including the service in the base price of the airline ticket or offering the service in return for an optional price supplement. The Advocate General states that this type of interpretation is not applicable to hand baggage, which the airline must keep free-of-charge. “Unlike checked-in baggage, hand baggage remains the sole responsibility of the passenger. Moreover, it is not part of the commercial services provided by the airline because there are no costs for checking it in, tracing it and storing it, as there is with checked-in baggage”.
On the checking-in of other baggage, airlines must respect EU consumer rights, states Bot. They must inform customers of the charges for that service in a clear, transparent and unambiguous way, at the start of the booking process undertaken by the customer, the detailed rules for pricing relating to checking in of baggage and allow the customer to allow or refuse the service in question on an opt-in basis. The Spanish court must now ascertain whether Vueling has complied with these requirements. (FG/transl.fl)