The Ministry of Consumption will request the cessation action against at least 17 airlines for a series of breaches in the information they offer to travelers about their rights in the event of flight cancellation.
Consumption uses this route that the law provides to protect users and with which justice is resorted to to stop this commercial practice of certain airlines now and in the future. Consumption also requests that all contracts by which travelers have accepted a replacement voucher be declared void if it has been acquired through flawed consent. That is, when the airline has not informed the user of this right and has offered the voucher as the only option.
The filing of cessation action has been debated today between the ministry and the autonomous communities, since the Minister of Consumer Affairs, Alberto Garzón, has already sent a communication to companies weeks ago to stop this activity.
European regulations
European regulations establish that, before canceling a flight, airlines must offer travelers a refund of their money within seven days; driving to the final destination as quickly as possible; or driving to the destination on a date that suits the traveler.
The European Commission allows airlines to issue vouchers as an attractive and reliable alternative to money reimbursement, but notes the voluntary nature of acceptance of the voucher by the passenger or traveler. In case of not being accepted by the client, the airline must reimburse the total amount of the ticket within seven days of the passenger's request.
Specifically, redemption in the form of a voucher is only possible with the agreement of the passenger, as stated in article 8.1.a) of the Regulation (EC) nº 261/2004 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 11 February 2004. This text establishes common rules on compensation and assistance to air passengers in the event of denied boarding and of cancellation or long delay of flights.
Therefore, in the event that the passenger has accepted the voucher without the company clearly offering him the option of reimbursement as an alternative, this consent will be considered flawed, as he does not have all the relevant information. In such case, the consumer will continue to maintain his right to reimbursement.
Given the current pandemic caused by COVID-19 and given the population's mobility restrictions, the Minister of Consumer Affairs, Alberto Garzón, sent a communication to the airlines to remind them of their obligations, according to the recent Recommendation C (2020) 3125 final of the European Commission, dated May 13. In it, the Commission highlighted the conditions for the issuance of the bonds by the airlines as an alternative to the reimbursement of package tours and transport services canceled in the context of the COVID-19 pandemic.
Spanish regulations
The Ministry of Consumer Affairs considers that the misleading omission of relevant information by airlines when offering redeemable vouchers to travelers constitutes an unfair commercial practice through a clear defect in consent and a breach of regulations.
In this sense, the Spanish regulations consider that the unfair commercial practice supposes a serious infraction in the defense of consumers and users according to article 49.1 I) of the General Law of Defense of Consumers and Users. Specifically, this rule considers an infringement "the use of unfair commercial practices with consumers or users".
On the other hand, the Law 3/1991, of January 10, on Unfair Competition establishes in its article 7.1 that "the omission and concealment of the information necessary for the recipient to adopt or may adopt a decision regarding their economic behavior with due knowledge of the cause is considered unfair."
Cessation Action
In situations of this type, the General Law for the Defense of Consumers and Users enables the General Directorate of Consumption to file an injunction when the rights of consumers are being violated. Specifically, article 54.3 a) of this rule establishes that it is the responsibility of Consumer "the preparation of legal actions in representation of the collective interests of consumers".
With all this, Consumption considers it justified to resort to the cessation route in the face of what it considers an omission of misleading information by the airlines, which constitutes an infringement of the consumer defense regulations and an injury to the collective interests of hundreds of thousands of passengers.
The 17 airlines reported by the Ministry of Consumer Affairs are: Air Europa, Air France, Binter Canarias, EasyJet, Eurowings, Iberia (Iberia Express and Air Nostrum), Jet 2, KLM, Latam Airlines, Lufthansa, Ryanair, Scandinavian Airlines (SAS) , Transavia, Thomson Airways (TUI), United Airlines, Volotea and Wizzair.
