Gatwick in airline charges row
02.06.11
The Civil Aviation Authority has told Gatwick Airport it must revise its baggage and check-in charges, abtn reports. The ruling follows a 2009 appeal from Ryanair, who argued passengers travelling with hand luggage only, having checked in online, should not pay the same as passengers checking in at the airport with hold baggage.
A Ryanair spokesman said Gatwick’s charging regime had been ‘discriminatory’, prompting the appeal to the CAA. He added: ‘All passengers are charged for check-in facilities, even though all Ryanair passengers check-in online and the majority travel with only hand luggage. Ryanair passengers have therefore been subsidising the check-in costs of airlines that do require passengers to use these inefficient, expensive, facilities.’
The CAA found in favour of Ryanair, saying Gatwick did not fully comply with airport ground handling regulations. A CAA spokesman said the airport had ‘failed to use objective and transparent criteria in setting its charges’. It must now ‘consult interested parties effectively in order to revise its pricing structure for check-in and baggage processing by no later than 1 April 2012’.
A Gatwick spokeswoman said the airport plans to carry out a consultation later this year to revise the structure of check-in desk and baggage charges. She said the airport had recognised this as ‘an area of contention’, but that full compliance with CAA directives would be in place by April 2012.
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