Norwegian passengers sue successfully about hand luggage fee
The Transport Complaints Board has upheld six Norwegian passengers after the airline charged them because they thought their luggage was too heavy or large.
Norwegian has given fines of between 650 and 750 kroner for passengers who have carried hand luggage that is above the airline’s weight or size limit on board aircraft.
On December 19th, the Transport Complaints Board approved six passengers in their complaints about the fees.
The reason is that the Board considers that the airline has not been able to prove that the luggage was actually above the permitted size or weight for the passengers complaining. It is the company that has the burden of proof that the fee is correctly imposed, the Board believes.
The Board therefore recommends that Norwegian repay the fees.
Don’t bother weighing your luggage
In one case, a passenger was traveling from Oslo airport to Chania in Crete. Upon boarding at Oslo Airport, one of the employees pointed to the complainant’s hand luggage and claimed that it weighed too much. The complainant had even weighed the suitcase before leaving home, explaining that it weighed under ten kilos, which was the upper limit for weight. According to the complainant, the employees did not weigh the baggage, and charged a fee of NOK 750.
When the complainant arrived in Chania, she asked the staff at the check-in desk to weigh the suitcase. It then weighed 6.8 kilos.
Norwegian needs time
It was Flysmart24 that first mentioned the case.
”These cases came in just days before Christmas. We need some time to consider each case individually before making a decision on what to do next,” spokesperson Astrid Mannion-Gibson at Norwegian told the website.
Norwegian admitted this autumn that they have enforced the weight and size regulations for hand luggage too strictly, after several passengers responded to the fees they were charged.
”We have been too strict at the airport. This is the feedback we have received from customers,” said Lasse Sandaker-Nielsen, Director of Information at Norwegian, to Nettavisen.
© NTB Scanpix / #Norway Today
