• Passengers complain about the way hand luggage rules are enforced.
• The President of UOKiK launched a preliminary investigation into the luggage policies of Ryanair and Wizz Air.
• The President of UOKiK is checking whether the method of verifying hand luggage dimensions and charging consumers additional fees complies with the law.

Complaints received by the Office describe a recurring pattern: a passenger with a backpack approaches the gate, where airline staff ask them to place it in a luggage sizer – a metal frame used to check dimensions. According to the complaints, this frame does not correspond to the permitted luggage dimensions. Although until recently backpacks were considered free hand luggage, now, according to the carrier, they do not meet the requirements, and consumers are charged an additional fee of up to several hundred zlotys. Travellers point out that the measurement is carried out in a hurry, with no opportunity to double-check or use a different measuring device. The reports also indicate that refusal to pay an arbitrarily imposed fee, which can only be paid by card, results in the consumer being denied boarding.

In response to signals from consumers, the President of UOKiK launched a preliminary investigation into the rules for the carriage of hand luggage by air carriers, which will examine the practices of Ryanair and Wizz Air. The Office is analysing contractual provisions relating to the conditions for the carriage of hand luggage, checking what information consumers receive when purchasing a ticket, the luggage measurement procedure, the rules for charging fees, the consequences for consumers in the event of non-payment, and the manner in which complaints concerning fees that consumers consider to be unjustly imposed are handled.

– According to the case law of the Court of Justice of the European Union, hand luggage – provided that it is within reasonable limits in terms of weight and size and does not violate safety regulations – should be treated as an integral part of the transport service, for which no additional fee should be charged. Our aim is to check whether low-cost airlines comply with this rule in practice – says Tomasz Chróstny, President of UOKiK.

If the preliminary investigation confirms that the rules on hand luggage and excess luggage charges may infringe consumer rights, the President of UOKiK will initiate proceedings to declare the provisions of the standard contracts unlawful or proceedings concerning practices infringing the collective interests of consumers.