The EU wants common rules on hand luggage on planes

MEPs voted on Wednesday (October 4, 2023) to harmonize the rules on hand luggage during air travel. Today, airlines have different regulations – larger carriers often still register hand luggage without additional fees, although even here its permissible weight varies and varies depending on the airline from 8 kg to 10 kg, but already low-cost airlines make you pay for your suitcase on board.

For example Ryanair and WizzAir only allow a backpack or smaller bag to be transported for freethat will fit under the seat of the seat in front, all cabin suitcases are treated as larger hand luggage and are subject to additional fees. These are also not uniform and depend, for example, on the departure date, destination, number of passengers or flight length; In practice, this means that for both checked baggage (you also have to pay extra) and hand baggage, even if you buy priority boarding, you have to pay from several to even several dozen euros. Some interesting facts: as reported a few days ago by the Fly4Free website, From November, the TUIFly carrier will introduce even stricter regulations regarding hand luggageincluding in the ticket price only a small bag weighing up to 2 kg.

Passengers dissatisfied

According to EU politicians, discrepancies in airline baggage policies and the lack of consistent European regulations are illegal because they prevent passengers from transparently comparing available travel options and make it difficult for them to make informed decisions.

– Various requirements set by airlines make it difficult for passengers to compare flight pricesbecause even if the ticket seems cheap, there are often hidden fees added to the final price, including for luggage, explains Spanish MEP Dolors Montserrat (EPP), responsible for the resolution in the European Parliament, in an interview with DW.

As MEPs add, the lack of common regulations also leads to problems, e.g. when passengers use different airlines during one trip, where one allows certain dimensions or weight of luggage, and the other charges additional fees for the same package.

Moreover, it sometimes happens that whether the luggage will be allowed or not depends on the good will of the airport employees. This, as EU politicians pointed out in the resolution adopted on Wednesday, causes unnecessary confusion, inconvenience, delays and sometimes also disputes between passengers and airline staff. – There is unnecessary chaos, which could be ended by the adoption of uniform regulations – says Dolors Montserrat.

The topic first appeared on the agenda of the European Parliament in 2019, when the parliamentary committee received a petition signed by EU citizens, the signatories of which demanded that, as part of the EU regulations on air passengers’ rights, all airlines should be obliged to provide passengers with a uniform standard dimensions of hand luggage.

In the resolution adopted on Wednesday, MEPs also referred to the judgment of the Court of Justice from 2014, according to which airlines should not charge additional fees for hand baggage “provided that such baggage meets reasonable requirements in terms of weight and dimensions and complies with applicable security requirements”.

The airlines are flashing

So why is the judgment not respected? The airlines evade the vague provisions of the CJEU ruling and explain that “reasonable requirements in terms of weight and dimensions” can be interpreted differently. They also argue that the current rules on air services, which the EU adopted in 2008, provide for the principle of free tariff setting, which – in their view – allows them to set a basic price for tickets without checked baggage and then increase this price if the customer wishes to however, register your luggage. They also add that introducing a single luggage standard would not give travelers more choice, on the contrary, because some passengers prefer to give up luggage in favor of a cheaper ticket.

Low-cost airlines are most unfavorable to the new regulations, which basically excluded luggage from the price of their tickets years ago. And now they are the ones who are most afraid of the fact that the introduction by the EU of regulations introducing free carriage of hand luggage will result in higher travel prices.

In response to the carriers’ allegations, MEPs point out that today’s airline practices are unfair, especially since the EU regulation states that customers should be able to effectively compare air transport prices of individual airlines, therefore “the final price to be paid by the customer for air carriage departing within the Community should always be indicated and include all taxes, fees and charges”.

The Parliament wants the European Commission to now review the EU rules on air services and ensure the full implementation of the above-mentioned CJEU ruling. EU politicians also want the new regulations to cover other hidden costs imposed on passengers by airlines, including fees for booking a seat on the plane or surcharges for checking in at the airport.