Facua-Consumers in Action has taken aim at Ryanair's decision to advance by 20 minutes the closure of its check-in desks and luggage delivery at airports, so that they now close one hour before the departure of the flight. The association argues that this change harms users, who are forced to show up earlier at the terminals so as not to risk missing the plane.
In a public statement, the consumer organization interprets that the Irish airline, with this modification, seeks to lower its staff costs, shifting that pressure onto travelers through higher operational requirements.
"The Irish airline justifies this change on operational and efficiency grounds, but in practice it translates into a cut in the time available for users to be able to carry out the check-in formalities and luggage delivery," it has added as well.
The company, for its part, has already defended the measure by underlining that it will allow the 20% of passengers who check in luggage to have "a little more time" to get through security checks and passport queues. This advance in the closure of the desks is accompanied by the rollout of self check-in kiosks for suitcases.
For Facua, it is "unacceptable" for airlines to try to place on consumers the consequences of their internal decisions on organization or their strategies for reducing staffing levels and labor costs.
"Passengers contract a transport service that must be provided under suitable conditions and should not be forced to assume new burdens of time to compensate for the airline's resource cuts," the organization said.