A job for Obelix Airlines under investigation

PAYING for hand luggage or to choose seats on flights could soon be a thing of the past.

The Spanish government is currently investigating seven low-cost airlines over their hand luggage and seat allocation policies that could result in fines of up to €100,000 or between four and six times the amount obtained due to ‘allegedly irregular’ business practices, according to the Ministry of Consumer Affairs.

The probe is focusing on the charging as ‘extras’ of ser- vices deemed by the Ministry to be ‘necessary and vital’ to travellers and whether these practices could be considered ‘abusive or unfair’ and contravene consumer law.

In addition, the authorities are also investigating whether other policies such as price segmentation could be generating privileged positions for airlines in search engines such as Google and online comparators, by offering prices that are much lower than what the customer actually ends up paying.

The airlines currently under investigation reportedly represent a market share of more than 30 per cent both inside and outside Europe, so these practices could potentially affect millions of travellers.