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Spain fines budget airlines €150M over 'abusive' cabin bag and seat charges

theguardian.com

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Re: Spain fines budget airlines €150M over 'abusive' cabin bag and seat charges

#31

Post by zeroonetwothree »

FireBeyond wrote: post #13
JansjoFromIkea wrote: post #9

My very selfish reason for becoming pro cabin bag charges is how much quicker it has made boarding planes. The way people took the piss with the bags they brought on board before was ridiculous and resulted in a big delay of people trying to find space for their oversized bags of stuff they absolutely don't need for their weekend trip.

People started doing it in part because the airlines were taking outrageous times to get bags. Ironically, that’s been very much improved. With Delta and Alaska now, it’s actually quite rare that I get to baggage claim and my bags are not already there.

It really depends on the airport not so much the airline.

Re: Spain fines budget airlines €150M over 'abusive' cabin bag and seat charges

#32

Post by m463 »

cpncrunch wrote: post #2

I agree that the 20E charge to print a paper ticket seems excessive, but I'm not sure about the bag fees. I know it's a bit annoying to get nickle and dimed for everything, but on the other hand it makes sense to only charge passengers for the services they need.

I think paper tickets should be always be free.

A better approach would be to offer an incentive for tickets on your phone (as long as it wasn't a data grab)

Re: Spain fines budget airlines €150M over 'abusive' cabin bag and seat charges

#33

Post by marcosdumay »

bobthepanda wrote: post #20
JansjoFromIkea wrote: post #9

My very selfish reason for becoming pro cabin bag charges is how much quicker it has made boarding planes. The way people took the piss with the bags they brought on board before was ridiculous and resulted in a big delay of people trying to find space for their oversized bags of stuff they absolutely don't need for their weekend trip.

at least in the US they started asking people to pay for checked bags first, so the airlines caused this whole "rush for the overhead bins" problem.

In Brazil too. There used to be plenty of space on the overhead bins, and people used to get in and out of the plane without any hush or messy corridors.

Re: Spain fines budget airlines €150M over 'abusive' cabin bag and seat charges

#34

Post by kjkjadksj »

m463 wrote: post #29
JansjoFromIkea wrote: post #9

My very selfish reason for becoming pro cabin bag charges is how much quicker it has made boarding planes. The way people took the piss with the bags they brought on board before was ridiculous and resulted in a big delay of people trying to find space for their oversized bags of stuff they absolutely don't need for their weekend trip.

I think not charging for checked bags and some sort of friction for carry-on bags would be best. Maybe checked bags are free, and people with carry-on bags board last (unless they have kids)

Basically what spirit does is charge you $65 for a carry on but $60 for a checked bag. Fastest boarding/deboarding experience I’ve seen short of when you get to walk on the tarmac and access the plane from both ends.

Re: Spain fines budget airlines €150M over 'abusive' cabin bag and seat charges

#35

Post by lxgr »

gpm wrote: post #11
lxgr wrote: post #6

Earlier quoted context omitted.

20€ seems almost reasonable – I think I’ve seen Ryanair charge far more than 100 at some point.

100€ for a... piece of paper!?

Yup. I think it was approximately 150€ when this happened to me.

There's even an entire second-order cottage industry benefiting from that practice: At the airport I was trying to board, there was a copyshop offering PDF printouts for 50 cent a page (yay) – except if the page is a boarding pass, for which the rate is then 10€.

Yes, they employ a person to specifically check what you're printing...

Re: Spain fines budget airlines €150M over 'abusive' cabin bag and seat charges

#36

Post by quonn »

pzmarzly wrote: post #14
lxgr wrote: post #6

Earlier quoted context omitted.

20€ seems almost reasonable – I think I’ve seen Ryanair charge far more than 100 at some point.

I was caught by this surprise pricing once, so I'll explain: printing a boarding pass at the airport is €20, but that's only if you have checked in online beforehand. But checking in in-person is €0 only if there's more than 2 hours left until the planned departure, it is €55 if there is less. So in practice, a lot of people end up paying €75 for something that's free when flying with other airlines. In Ryanair's def…

Moreover, if you arrive at the airport 3 hours before but spend one hour in the check-in queue, you will fall into the two hours time window and pay 50 EUR for effectively having the boarding pass printed.

A court in Vienna previously ruled against them, but they just ignore that everywhere else.

Re: Spain fines budget airlines €150M over 'abusive' cabin bag and seat charges

#37

Post by Tenoke »

I just flew with Ryanair and yes, the fees for luggage etc are expensive, but if you don't take luggage and any extras they offer, they are amazing value. I hope the cheap airlines don't get overrun with fines because if not for them I'd barely see my parents.

Re: Spain fines budget airlines €150M over 'abusive' cabin bag and seat charges

#38

Post by dylan604 »

jmclnx wrote: post #21

I am slight surprised over this, but seems to follow what the US Does with these fines. If it was up to me, all passengers for say the past 7 years will get a full refund of all their baggage fees + 100 EUR + 10% interest compounded per year.

This is what I came to comment about as well. In other words, it's just a tax without going to the legislature to implement the tax. It will only be levied when someone decides it's time to levy it again, so it's somewhat convenient.

The government didn't pay those heinous fees, yet they end up with the money? Like seriously, who does that make sense to other than corrupt bureaucrats? The obvious thing would be as you suggest to refund fees directly to those that were charged. Maybe then levy a fine on top of those refunds as a punishment that goes to the government just to add salt to the wound.

Re: Spain fines budget airlines €150M over 'abusive' cabin bag and seat charges

#39

Post by madjam002 »

I've flown a lot with Ryanair, Easyjet and Wizz Air, and apart from Wizz Air adding mysterious a "System surcharge" if you use an ad blocker (although I think they've stopped doing this), I don't mind the extra charges at all.

Surely if they ban cabin bag and seat charges, then the base fare is just going to go up for everyone?

Memes and jokes aside, I actually find Ryanair to be a better service a lot of the time compared to Easyjet and more transparent with pricing, even though Easyjet is almost always more expensive on the routes I fly.

Re: Spain fines budget airlines €150M over 'abusive' cabin bag and seat charges

#40

Post by ApolloFortyNine »

Detrytus wrote: post #25
marcinzm wrote: post #5

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It still costs fuel to carry the weight and slows down the boarding/un-boarding process. Especially if overhead bins fill up and bags need to be, chaotically, checked in at the gate since then you also need more gate attendants. Some passengers don't need anything more than the personal under seat bag for their trip. So charging for carry on bags is a logical approach if you wish to minimize the operating costs of th…

Planes are typically used for longer trips though, not for getting an ice-cream from the stand around the corner. It is reasonable to expect some baggage allowance, the whole trip rarely makes sense without it. Charging for carry-on bags is almost like charging you for the air you breathe. It is abusive, because it's basically lying about the real cost of the ticket.

I haven't checked a bag or brought a non personal item carry on in 8 years. You can easily fit 4 sets of clothes, a jacket, etc.

>It is abusive, because it's basically lying about the real cost of the ticket.

In the US every airline that does this makes it comically clear. Spirit, the one people always make fun of for nickel and diming, has multiple screens before you book telling you that it'll cost extra for bags. Every other airline does similar.

Yes queue the 'but I have 9 children' posts, obviously then you need to pay a bag fee.

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