RYANAIR IS to appeal the decision of a Spanish court that found the airline was wrong to impose “unfair” fees on passengers who failed to print out their own boarding cards.
In what could be a landmark legal ruling with implications for Ryanair policies in Europe, Judge Barbara Maria Cordoba of the Barcelona commercial court last week said airlines, not passengers, were obliged to issue boarding cards.
She made the decision in a case brought by Dan Miro, a lawyer who objected to being charged €40 after he failed to print his boarding card before a flight.
“The normal practice over the years has been that the obligation to issue the boarding card has always fallen on the carrier,” she ruled. “I declare unfair and therefore void the contractual clause in which Ryanair obliges the passenger to be the one who brings the printed boarding pass to travel or face a penalty of €40.”
The airline argued at a court hearing on December 21st that, as a low-cost airline, it should be permitted to require its passengers to print their own boarding passes.
Ryanair said it would appeal the ruling. Ryanair spokesman Daniel de Carvalho claimed arriving at an airport without a boarding pass was like not having a passport.
The ruling is unlikely to have an immediate impact on Irish Ryanair passengers as it would have to be upheld by European courts before EU-wide enforcement.
