The Supreme Court banned the former airline Laudamotion from charging check-in fees in May 2020. Since this has been declared illegal, affected passengers have the right to repayment, but according to a report by the Kronen Zeitung that should not work particularly smoothly.

Actually, one should assume that if there is a supreme court judgment, reclaiming unlawfully collected fees should be easy and uncomplicated. According to the media report, Laudamotion and Ryanair have been keeping affected passengers waiting for the repayment of the check-in fee tipped by the Supreme Court in the amount of 55 euros per person and route for almost a year.

In the past, the two carriers have occasionally made use of the fact that they were flying under OE flight numbers (Laudamotion), but the tickets were sold by Ryanair (FR). The contractual partner of the travelers was always the Irish airline, but this shifted the responsibility for unpleasant concerns in the direction of Schwechat to Laudamotion and there the affected travelers were sent back to the Ryanair customer service. This practice no longer exists, as Laudamotion is no longer an airline and the successor Lauda Europe flies exclusively as a kind of subcontractor in wet lease for the Irish sister company.

But what about passengers who paid 55 euros per person and route at the check-in counter before the Supreme Court ruling? According to a report by the Kronen Zeitung, neither Ryanair nor Laudamotion have so far repaid a family a total of 220 euros. The travelers stated that the web check-in did not work and then paid at the airport, otherwise they would have been refused entry. The Supreme Court ruled in May 2020 that the check-in fee is inadmissible. As a result, a repayment claim has arisen.

According to Kronen Zeitung, the travelers concerned turned to Ryanair and Laudamotion shortly after the verdict and, referring to the decision of the supreme court, demanded the repayment of at least 220 euros. Numerous e-mails are said to have been ignored by both companies and no money has flowed either. After a media inquiry from the newspaper, those affected are said to have received an email in which the reimbursement was announced within 20 working days. Ryanair did not want to comment on the matter.