The Ministry of Social Rights, Consumer Affairs and Agenda 2030 has reached an agreement with several airlines whereby they undertake to comply with current consumer protection regulations and maintain a free helpline number available to their customers.

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Consumer Affairs reaches agreements with several airlines as low-cost airlines

News on the sanctioning proceedings opened during the last legislature in the air transport sector by the Ministry of Consumer Affairs (now the Ministry of Social Rights, Consumer Affairs and Agenda 2030). On the one hand, the sanctioning proceedings related to the charging of services that should be included in the ticket price, such as hand luggage or seat selection for minors, have concluded their investigation phase and are now at the current General Secretariat for Consumer Affairs and Gambling, which is the body that will have to decide after assessing the potential allegations received from the companies.

On the other hand, several disciplinary proceedings against certain airline companies for not having customer service telephone numbers or, if they exist, for difficulty in accessing them, have been resolved with an agreement. In this case, the companies have assumed their responsibility and have signed a series of non-repetition commitments, so that the proceedings have ended without the imposition of a financial penalty by means of a conventional termination agreement.

In July 2023, the Subdirectorate General for Inspection and Sanctioning Procedures (SGIPS), which reports to the Directorate General for Consumer Affairs, opened several sanctioning proceedings against several airlines for the lack of a free helpline or, if one existed, for the difficulty of accessing it. This practice is a breach of the legal obligations regarding customer services. The regulation states that this telephone number must be accessible to all consumers and that it must be free of charge (geographic or premium rate numbers, for example, are not valid). Toll-free numbers are those beginning with the prefixes 800 or 900, known as “automatic collect services”.

The Directorate General for Consumer Affairs has reached agreements with several airlines whereby the airlines have accepted their responsibility and have undertaken to keep the implemented free helpline at the disposal of customers, as communicated to the Directorate General in compliance with the consumer protection regulations in force in Spain. They have also undertaken the necessary commitments to allow verification of compliance with this obligation. However, the Consumer Affairs Department is still pursuing several disciplinary proceedings for the lack of a free helpline, as required by Article 21 of the revised text of the General Law for the Defence of Consumers and Users.

On the other hand, last summer, the Directorate General for Consumer Affairs also initiated several sanctioning proceedings against several low-cost airlines for charging for services that should be included in the ticket price, such as the payment of an additional price to the ticket price to transport hand luggage or the extra payment for the reservation of an adjacent seat to accompany minors or dependent persons. Both practices could be considered abusive within the meaning of Article 47.1 of the General Law for the Defence of Consumers and Users. In addition, the airlines in question are also allegedly not allowing cash payment at the airport for additional services, contrary to the provisions of the regulations.

These proceedings have now completed their investigation phase, so the Directorate General for Consumer Affairs has notified the proposed resolutions the airlines concerned and the case has passed to the General Secretariat for Consumer Affairs and Gambling, which is the body that decides and which will have to assess the potential allegations received from the companies on the proposed resolution and then issue the final resolution.

The final resolution may entail a financial penalty, some other ancillary sanction (such as a prohibition to repeat the sanctioned practices) or, as in the case of some of the airlines sanctioned for customer services, end with a termination agreement, in which companies are not sanctioned in exchange for taking responsibility and changing their behaviour.