AGCM

PRESS RELEASE

SANCTION BY ANTITRUST OF EURO 550,000 TO RYANAIR: ASSISTANCE GIVEN TO PASSENGERS IS TOO COSTLY

Administrative penalty totalling EUR 550,000 to Ryanair, the Irish low-cost airline, for unfair business practices.  Under investigation, in particular, are the modalities of assistance provided by passengers through a call centre service reachable only through the numbers above.

The fine was imposed by the Antitrust Authority at the end of a process for malpractice, started on 6 June 2014 as a result of numerous reports by passengers and consumer groups that complained about the extreme difficulty and burden to contact the operator in order to exercise specific contractual prerogatives.  These included the need for assistance for the boarding of people with reduced mobility; the choice of a replacement flight in the event of changes to the flight plan arranged by the carrier; the change of reservation before the flight; the request for refund of amounts erroneously charged at the time of booking and issuing the commercial invoice for the flight purchased in addition to the use of bonus credit granted by the carrier.

The Italian Competition Authority has given Ryanair 90 days within which to communicate the initiatives taken to remove profiles of impropriety established, on which the company has started to intervene during the proceedings, but which has not yet eliminated them.  The measures already taken by the companies have concerned, in particular, the abolition of the premium rate number dedicated to the assistance of priority, the reduction of tariffs for telephone support and the introduction of a service via chat, accessible from the website of the carrier, that allows the passenger to speak with a customer service representative.

In determining the sanction, the Italian Competition Authority took the company’s behaviour into account.

The decision is part of other investigations adopted by the Authority on how assistance to air passengers and, in particular, on the use of premium telephone lines to exercise legitimate contractual prerogatives (see, most recently, decision number 25181 of 12 November 2014, on Meridiana Fly – Refunds and Call Centre fee, Official Bulletin number 47/2014).

Rome, 19 January 2015