The European Union could prohibit airlines from charging fees for carry-on bags if new legislation becomes law.
The European Parliament’s transportation committee adopted a proposal that would effectively require airlines certificated in or operating flights from the European Union’s 27 member states to allow passengers to board with a small personal item and carry-on bag.
The new rules would add clarity to an 11-year-old E.U. law that prohibits airlines from charging for hand baggage, but whose language is so vague it has been relatively unenforceable. The new proposal would also standardize a minimum size and weight, after years of complaints from passengers and consumer advocacy groups that the rules were inconsistently enforced, and that passengers who thought they were within the limits were faced with surprise fees when they reached the airport.
Virtually all European airlines allow small personal items such as a purse or backpack that can be stowed underneath an aircraft seat free of charge, but several ultra-low cost airlines charge for larger carry-on bags that must be stowed in an overhead compartment. Ryanair, easyJet, Wizz Air, Volotea, and Vueling are among the airlines that charge for larger carryon bags, but legacy airlines including British Airways, Air France, KLM, and Lufthansa do not.
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Airlines 4 Europe (A4E), the trade organization representing European carriers, condemned the move.
“The Committee [is] using this vote to add air travel specific amendments by the backdoor that remove choice from passengers and their ability to decide what services they want to pay for and, most importantly, what service they don’t.”
A4E contends that requiring airlines to allow passengers to carry on bags without charges could increase carrier costs and raise base fares for passengers, thus unfairly penalizing those who who don’t wish to carry on a small bag and still take advantage of lower base fares on airlines that charge the fees.
The carry-on bag fee wasn’t the only amendment voted on in the committee. Also approved were proposals refining the rules around compensation for delayed passengers as outlined in the now decades-old E.U. 261 air travel consumer protection regulations. The changes would better define the extraordinary circumstances, such as natural disasters or armed conflicts, that would allow carriers to cancel or delay flights without providing the required cash compensation to passengers.
The committee also proposes a common form for submitting compensation claims under that law—different E.U. countries currently have a patchwork of regulations outlining how carriers must accept contact from passengers seeking payments.
How the Proposed E.U. Carry-on Regulations Impact U.S. Airlines
The proposal would also apply to U.S. carriers’ flights departing from the European Union, but no U.S. carrier currently charges for carry-on bags—even on Basic Economy Fares—on flights departing from European cities. If passed, the rule would apply to all flights regardless of origin for airlines certificated by E.U. member states.
In the United States, some American airlines, such as Frontier, Spirit, and Allegiant, charge for larger carry-on bags that would have to go into overhead compartments. United Airlines charges for larger carry-on bags on its cheapest Basic Economy fare on U.S. domestic flights. There are no current proposals before the U.S. Congress that would require U.S. carriers to allow free carry-on bags, but airlines are currently required by law to disclose those fees on their websites so passengers can review them prior to booking their flights.
The E.U. proposals will go to the next full meeting of the European Parliament, and could further change as European MPs debate and amend the proposals before voting to pass them as laws. Members of the supranational European Parliament are directly elected by voters in the bloc’s 27 countries, and can pass legislation with a simple majority of 50% plus one.