Ryanair ordered to make hand luggage change in 'huge win for passengers'
Ryanair has been ordered to refund a passenger £124 after a court ruled hand luggage is essential and should not incur extra fees. The passenger will be reimbursed for hand luggage costs charged on five flights between 2019 and 2024 following the judgement at a Salamanca court that their bags should not have incurred additional fees.
The judge based her decision on a 2014 decision by a top European Union court which stated that hand luggage 'must, in principle, be considered an indispensable element of passenger transport and that its carriage cannot, therefore, be subject to a price supplement.'
The passenger's claim was backed by Spanish consumer rights organisation Facua. Spanish lawyer Isaac Guijarro, who represented passengers, said of the ruling at the time that it was a 'huge win for travellers everywhere.'
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Guijarro said: "It shows Ryanair can't get away with treating passengers like walking ATMs." Article 97 of Spain's Air Navigation law explains airlines are "obliged to transport not only the passenger, but also, and without charging anything for it, the objects and hand luggage that they carry" with them.
"They can only deny boarding of these items for security reasons, linked to the weight or size of the object, but in this case they were typical cabin suitcases' that did not exceed 55x35x25cm," he explained.
One passenger reacted on social media: "Good. Ryanair destroyed UK local airline Flybe during Covid when our then government refused to support Flybe because Ryanair complained. Ryanair is a horrid airline in every sense. I will never fly with them."
A second said: "I can never forgive Ryanair who abandoned its passengers in Gran canaria when the Icelandic volcano erupted 2010. No help, nothing just smirks from staff. It took a court case to get our money back."
"Easy to get round this....pay the charge at check-in and then cancel the transaction at the lounge just before you about to board the flight., you might have to to phone your bank if you don't have an online account by the way," another said.
Another typed: "That's exactly what I did, and they didn't have any bands for the bag and therefore couldn't give me a receipt, I politely said I'll wait, and the plane missed its take off window, and I know the costs of that, the juice in my case, wasn't worth the squeezing for them."
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You Can Now Use Your Hyatt Points to Book These Chic Boutique Hotels
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New York Times
14 hours ago
- New York Times
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More than 450 years ago, King Philip II of Spain decreed Madrid — a somewhat sleepy mountain town in the middle of the Iberian Peninsula — the capital of his empire. Many historians consider it an odd decision for a ruler whose maritime empire extended across three oceans and five continents and was connected by the largest navy the world had ever seen. Not only is Madrid 220 miles from the nearest Spanish port in Valencia on the Mediterranean, but it's also 2,000 feet above sea level. A bustling seafaring city like Cádiz would have been a more obvious choice. And given today's tourism-driven economy in a country that visitors associate with sunshine and beaches, Madrid's lack of a sea coast might seem an even greater handicap than it was for Philip. But the city's role as the center of a once vast maritime realm has eternally linked it with the sea in myriad ways. Museums, food, massive anchors and beaches: Here's a guide to Madrid's seaworthy treasures. Neptune and Friends Let's start with the god of the seas. In the heart of the city, on the Paseo del Prado — just steps from City Hall and Madrid's great art venues such as the Prado and the Thyssen-Bornemisza — stands a towering and rather hunky 1780s statue of Neptune wielding his trident in a multitiered circular fountain. He appears to be arriving in town on a chariot made of shells, pulled from the frothy depths by sea horses and dolphins. It's a beloved local monument and the de facto gathering spot for one of Madrid's two soccer teams (Atlético de Madrid) after big wins. Neptune is far from the only seafarer in the city. Parks and plazas are littered with monuments and mementos of famous navigators, admirals, captains, sea battles and an astonishing number of massive anchors. Tritons and dolphins abound in fountains in Retiro Park and in the grand Plaza de la República Argentina, where life-size bronze dolphins leap, leading locals to refer to it as the 'plaza of the dolphins.' Street names include Calle del Almirante (Admiral Street) and Calle del Barco (Boat Street), as well as ones honoring explorers such as Nuñez de Balboa and Juan Sebastián de Elcano, and naval heroes like Álvaro de Bazán and Blas de Lezo. Both a street and a plaza bear the name De la Marina Española and they're nowhere near each other. There's even an altar in the shape of a boat in the parish church Nuestra Señora del Carmen y San Luis. Want all of The Times? Subscribe.
