Help Needed! Ryanair charged me to check in bag of duty free

lil_bexstar

Hi all

I am not sure where else I can find the answer to this so am hoping someone is more knowledgable than me!

Last week my partner and I returned from Alicante airport with Ryanair. Having seen signs in the airport that said it was the 'LAW' in Spain that all passengers can carry on one piece of hand luggage plus one bag of duty free we went ahead and bought some. However when we reached the gate the staff refused to let us on the flight until we paid 50 euros to check in a piece of hand luggage as we were unable to fit into into our existing bags!

I have since complained to Ryanair and this is the email I recieved:

Dear Customer,

Thank you for contacting Ryanair.


In accordance with Ryanair's General Conditions of Carriage all monies paid are non refundable, therefore we are not in a position to process a refund of the baggage fee paid on booking confirmation number WFDJ6G.
We wish to inform that as per our Terms and Conditions, each passenger (excluding infants) is permitted to carry one piece of cabin baggage on board.
Strictly one item of cabin baggage is permitted per passenger. Handbag, briefcase, laptops, shop purchases, camera etc must be carried within your permitted 1 piece of cabin baggage.
The cabin baggage should weigh no more than 10kg and not exceed the maximum dimensions of 55cm x 40cm x 20cm. Due to security restrictions certain items cannot be carried in cabin baggage, please find more information on our website.

For the safety and convenience of all passengers, cabin baggage must comfortably fit underneath the seat or in the overhead compartment. We reserve the right to cancel your reservation without refund and to deny you boarding if you arrive at the boarding gate with more than one item of cabin baggage or if that item exceeds the maximum dimensions.

Please note that if you have any further queries relating to this request you will have to submit another request via our web form.

Yours sincerely,
Lisa
The Customer Service Team

For and on Behalf of
RYANAIR LIMITED


As far as I am concerned Ryanair have broken the law but are hiding behind their t&c's in order not to refund our money.

Can anyone advise if there is anything else we can do? At the moment I just feel helpless! :mad:

Thanks in advance

Becca

budgetflyer

You don't get "Duty Free" from Spain to UK. Both are within the EU.

mystic_trev

It looks like the OP might have a point.

Air passengers who find themselves being charged for carrying duty-free purchases in addition to their hand luggage have been asked to denounce the airline. Spain's airports operator says such penalties contravene the country's air navigation laws.

http://www.costa-news.com/content/view/9669/122/

k3lvc

You're caught in a massive political row/demonstration of willy-waving between AENA and Ryanair and you're not likely to win anything.

Attached is one example of the media coverage in Spain http://www.costa-news.com/content/view/9632/1/ but there are hundreds of others.

In the UK a number of airports serviced by Ryanair do allow a bag of airport purchases but you can be assured that the airports give Mr O'Leary something in return whereas the Spanish just wave their local law around and then complain when he cuts the flights from the airports that complain

ekkygirl

They tried to do the same to us last year so I opened the duty free and put it in my coat pocket. Not sure what I would have done if I didnt have my big coat lol

jpsartre

Ryanair make it quite clear that they allow only one piece of carry-on. So I'd say you've got nobody but yourself to blame.

SaveTheEuro

jpsartre wrote: »

Ryanair make it quite clear that they allow only one piece of carry-on. So I'd say you've got nobody but yourself to blame.

Not even the AENA a little bit?

jpsartre

Sure, they're idiots too

C_Mababejive

I recently flew Ryanair out of MAN and there were signs in the airside shopping area which stated that it was permissable to carry on "duty free" purchases to Ryanair flights free of charge. As i dont fall for all that duty free rubbish,it didnt apply to me but it might be of some assistance. It might be worthwhile phoning MAN to get their view since they display the signs..

jpsartre

Many airports have made special arrangements with Ryanair allowing passengers from those airports to carry a bag of duty free items. It has nothing to do with any law about carry-on allowances.

k3lvc

jpsartre wrote: »

Many airports have made special arrangements with Ryanair allowing passengers from those airports to carry a bag of duty free items. It has nothing to do with any law about carry-on allowances.

And they tend to be some of the UK airports who are humble enough to understand the power of Ryanair and are competitors in their own right e.g Manchester vs Liverpool, East Midlands vs Birmingham.

In Spain where there is little inter-airport competition they resort to 'the law' and then wonder why Mr O'Leary a) sticks 2 fingers up at them or b) takes his planes somewhere else to generate profit.

The only safe moneysaving way of flying Ryanair is to play by the rules at the time of booking. Anything you gain after that (i.e. the right to an extra bag of booze/fags to carry on board) should be treated as a bonus