Baggage free of charge will be maintained, say senators to government and airlines

The federal government and airlines defended this Thursday (5th), in a hearing in the Senate, that the ban on charging the fee for checking baggage is “a wrong remedy” for reducing ticket prices.

However, they faced a strong reaction from the senators, who indicated that they will keep the free service.

The airlines say the new check-in rule should lead to the elimination of the cheapest fare for those traveling with only carry-on luggage.

The discussion took place at a hearing to discuss the provisional measure that changes rules in the airline industry. Senior directors from the Ministry of Infrastructure, Anac (National Civil Aviation Agency), the Ministry of Economy and the union that represents airlines participated.

The provisional measure should be voted on by senators in the coming weeks. During its proceedings in the Chamber, the deputies jointly approved a provision that prohibited the charge for checking luggage weighing up to 23 kilos on domestic flights and a suitcase weighing up to 30 kilos on international trips.

The president of Abear (Brazilian Association of Airlines), Eduardo Sanovicz, stated that the ban on charging, if it advances in the Senate, will mean a setback for the sector, since the practice of charging for the dispatch of luggage “aligns Brazil to the planet “.

Representatives of the federal government and Anac even described the rise in air ticket prices as “stratospheric”. However, they stated that changing the rule for checking baggage is not the correct measure to change it.

“We know about society’s complaint […], the rates are very expensive. But we understand that here we have a clear case of wrong medicine. The exact remedy is far from the baggage allowance”, said the national secretary of Civil Aviation, Ronei Saggioro Glanzmann.

One of the arguments of those who defend the separate charge for checked baggage is that this brings more legal security to investors and opens space for the entry of new airlines in the Brazilian market, especially the so-called ultra-low costs.

The reasoning was bitterly opposed by senators and other participants.

Senators promise to keep orders free of charge

“I always speak in the courts: legal certainty in Brazil is only seen by the investor. Nobody talks about legal certainty for the consumer. [Diziam] ‘take that out, the low costs will come in, the price will drop’. Where is the price that dropped? The guy continues with a backpack, but traveling with the price three times more expensive”, said Walter Faiad, a lawyer at Idec (Brazilian Institute for Consumer Protection).

PSD leader Nelsinho Trad (PSD-MS) said that airlines received the biggest aid packages from the federal government and Congress during the new coronavirus pandemic, but that they let the price skyrocket with the resumption.

“A whole sheet of exemptions, benefits, taxes that were withdrawn, extended, amnesty are listed here, so that the sector could feel as little as possible the impact of all this negative increase that the economy had”, said the senator.

Carlos Portinho (PL-RJ), who is the leader of President Jair Bolsonaro’s party, was also in the same vein and said that the ban on charging for checked baggage will be maintained in the Senate. He also promised to add amendments to eliminate other charges.

Portinho mentioned, for example, the charge for accompanying minors on flights, which was previously free and, according to him, now costs up to R$ 250 per trip segment.

Airlines say expensive airfare is a reflection of fuel prices

The representative of the airlines stated that the sector has been affected because of the economic situation and the price of fuel in the international market. Sanovicz said the exchange rate has risen 60% and the price of jet fuel has risen 209% since April 2017.

“The price is a messenger of everything that is happening in the economy in the sector chain and in the context. Any measure that attacks only the price will not change the context”, says Paulo Nei da Silva Júnior, market monitoring coordinator at Senacon ( National Consumer Secretariat), of the Ministry of Justice.

“Perhaps there was a miscommunication in 2016 in saying that baggage allowance could reduce the price of the air ticket, and in fact it is an adaptation to the international model, which would allow the entry of new competitors, new companies”, he added.