Over the last few days, you’ve likely read that Europe is making a significant change to its passenger rights regulations. One of the more eye-catching updates is that airlines will be forced to allow customers to take hand baggage on board the aircraft, effectively banning low-cost carriers from charging an additional fee for this privilege.
What these headlines don’t say, however, is that this isn’t the case at all.
To understand what’s really going on, we need to go back all the way to 2013, when the European Parliament’s transport committee was tasked with drafting updated air passenger regulations, which guarantee airline customers specific rights and the opportunity to claim compensation if their flight is significantly delayed or cancelled at short notice.
By this point, Europe’s passenger rights regulations, commonly known as EU-261, had been in effect for around eight years, and the aviation industry was lobbying hard for the rules to be updated so that they favored airlines.
The airline industry argued that EU-261 was having the desired effect of reducing delays as lawmakers had intended, and instead, was simply raising costs for airlines, which were then being passed onto passengers in the form of higher airfares.
Lawmakers tussled for years over the specifics of how the regulations should be updated, but that all changed on Monday, June 15, when the conciliation committee approved a final text for updated EU-261 regulations.
Among the changes was an update on allowing passengers to take hand baggage in the cabin with them for free. How this works in practice, however, is a little more complicated.
The ‘free’ element only applies to a single ‘personal item’ like a small backpack, purse, or tote bag that can be placed underneath the seat in front. This rule effectively doesn’t change anything, as virtually every single airline in Europe, including the likes of Ryanair, already allows this.
The next change is in relation to hand baggage or trolley bags that are too big to fit underneath the seat in front and have to be placed into the overhead bin. The updated regulations will not allow passengers to bring these items on board at no extra cost.
Instead, the regulations require airlines to display the airfare inclusive of a piece of hand baggage as the default.
So, when you search for an airfare, the first price you see will be the fare inclusive of a larger trolley bag that can be placed in the overhead bin. That does not mean, however, that airlines can’t offer a cheaper airfare that doesn’t include hand baggage.
Here’s what the regulations actually say:
- Air carriers shall permit passengers to carry a personal item in the cabin and at no extra cost.
- Air carriers shall, subject to the capacity of the aircraft cabin, permit passengers to carry a piece of hand baggage in the cabin.
- Whenever air fares are offered or published, air fares including allowance for a piece of hand baggage shall be displayed by default before the start of any booking process.
- This paragraph shall not prevent air carriers or intermediaries from offering commercially differentiated offers to passengers who voluntarily choose to travel without hand baggage.
Notice how point 2 doesn’t make any mention of making hand baggage a free option? This is then confirmed in both points 3 and 4.
Low-cost carriers, such as Ryanair, are pretty unhappy with this update, and it’s not because their business model has suddenly been torpedoed by European bureaucrats. Instead, they are unhappy that passengers will be forced to see the higher airfare, which includes hand baggage, whereas the airfare without hand baggage could be much cheaper.
According to Ryanair, around 50% of its passengers proactively opt for an airfare without hand baggage. Instead, they buy trolley bags that are specially sized to fit within Ryanair’s maximum personal item dimensions.
What is interesting about this rule is that it doesn’t account for the fact that airplanes only have space in the overhead lockers for a certain number of trolley bags in the… many fewer than the total number of passengers that can be squeezed on board.
Passengers are likely to start seeing airfares that are inclusive of hand baggage, even though there is little chance of them actually being able to bring their bag on board the plane with them.
How will airlines get around this? It’s quite simple, really: We’ll likely see low-cost carriers quickly update their airfare search results to display both the inclusive hand baggage fare and the cheaper base fare side by side.
Airlines remain deeply frustrated with the updated regulations because, after years of campaigning to reduce the strain of these rules on their operations, European lawmakers retained them pretty much as they were before.
The International Air Transport Association (IATA), a trade body that represents the vast majority of global air carriers, was withering in its response to the updated regulations, blasting: “The result will not reduce delays, but considering the whole package of changes, it will create operational challenges and add costs which will ultimately be borne by passengers.”
“It’s a reform in name only that does nothing to help disrupted passengers. Those responsible for this political trade-off must be held accountable with transparent data to monitor its costs and impacts,” slammed Willie Walsh, IATA’s Director General.
The updated legislation now goes to the European Parliament and Council for ratification. This is expected to take place in early July.
