An Austrian Court Just Ruled 14 of Ryanair's Fees Illegal

Austria's Supreme Court has ruled that 14 of the 15 Ryanair fees challenged by the country's consumer association are unlawful. The headliner: a €55 charge for checking in at the airport instead of online.

Also struck down is the €25 lap-infant fee, name-correction charges, rebooking fees, and the infamous €15 paper boarding pass fee Ryanair had already dropped. The court's problem wasn't the fees themselves, but that they weren't transparent and could be charged even when Ryanair was at fault — like when its own online check-in failed.

The consumer group says anyone who paid can request a refund; Ryanair counters that the court didn't order retroactive payouts. Ryanair has three months to drop these clauses in Austria, and for now the ruling binds Austria alone. But it's case law other European regulators can point to next.

Andrew's Take

The check-in fee was always the cynical one — €55 to do something you're required to do anyway, sometimes because their system broke. This happened to my wife and I on a recent Wizz Air flight from London to Prague, where we paid over $100 combined for the privilege of checking in at the airport when we couldn't online. Paying for a bag you're actually bringing is fair; a fee you can't avoid or see coming isn't. Austria drew that line in the right spot, and the rest of Europe is watching.