Italian watchdog fines Ryanair, easyJet, Volotea €8.4mn

The Italian competition watchdog (L’Autorità Garante della Concorrenza e del Mercato – AGCM) has imposed fines totalling EUR8.4 million euros (USD10.2 million) on Ryanair, easyJet, and Volotea, for flouting consumer protection laws during the pandemic. The regulator fined Ryanair EUR4.2 million euros (USD5.12 million), easyjet EUR2.8 million (USD3.4 million), and Spanish airline Volotea EUR1.4 million (USD1.7 million) for not reimbursing customers for flights cancelled after June 3, 2020, once travel restrictions linked to the COVID-19 lockdown in Italy had ended. The law quoted is Italy’s “Consumer Code” (Legislative Decree 6 of September 2005, no. 206), which aligns with European Union consumer protection legislation. The Italian watchdog, in a statement, said the three airlines had engaged in “seriously improper conduct” and did not apply “professional diligence” when – once the government had relaxed the travel restrictions in Italy – they proceeded with numerous flight cancellations and sale offers using the COVID-19 crisis as an excuse. They had also continued to issue vouchers instead of refunding cancelled tickets. Furthermore, the authority found that information had been lacking or misleading about consumers’ rights. Reimbursements were hindered and delayed through methods and procedures to induce – and in some cases even force – consumers to choose and/or accept vouchers instead of refunds. In Ryanair’s case, its advertising campaign from June 2020 was considered misleading and focused on the possibility of changing flights for free (through the claim “no change penalties” or similar) while the company actually had charged higher fares for new flights chosen by consumers, and still had charged a penalty if the flight change took place seven days before departure. In addition to the payment of fines, the three carriers would have to present corrective measures adopted in response to the authority’s finding, the regulator said.