Ryanair in €15 million victory

Ryanair and Michael O'Leary court publicity where they can. Most of the time, they don't care if it's good or bad news. This time round it was good news for them because Ryanair has won its appeal against a Spanish court ruling that declared a 40 euro fee for issuing boarding passes at airport check-in illegal. It is estimated they earn upwards of 15 million euro each year from the charge. The issue was heard recently  by the Barcelona appeal court who ruled the penalty fee lawful. They overturned the finding of a Barcelona commercial court in January which had declared airlines were obliged to issue boarding cards. Ryanair welcomed the ruling, a spokesman saying: “This ruling removes any confusion in Spain about the lawful nature of our boarding pass reissue penalty. We understand it cannot be appealed.” He added: “This is the first of a number of bizarre lower court rulings in Barcelona which we expect will be overturned. We urge all Ryanair passengers to ensure they check in online prior to arriving at their airport.” When you fail to check in online and print your own boarding pass, there is a penalty  of 40 euros. One lawyer who took exception to this practice took Ryanair to court and the charge was ruled as unlawful. Ryanair appealed on the grounds that passengers agree when they book to check-in online and print their own boarding card. Its lawyers argued passengers failing to do so had breached that agreement and were not entitled to fly. Ryanair charges a 6 euro or £6 fee for online check in. The airline said less than 1% of passengers pay the boarding card penalty “which applies only where passengers fail to comply with their agreement that they will check in online”. However, it carried 76.8 million passengers in the 12 months to September, meaning if just 0.5% of passengers pay the fee it brings Ryanair in excess of 15 million euros a year in “penalty fees”. Ryanair chief executive Michael O’Leary is never one to miss an opportunity to keep the airline in the news. He admitted that his latest scheme to drive down costs and increase revenue was to reduce the number of toilets on new aircraft from 3 to 1. Now if that's not going to be the cause of an accident abroad I'm not sure what is??

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