Pobeda is forced to abandon illegal restrictions on hand luggage. Low-cost carrier Pobeda lost a lawsuit over the issue of carrying hand luggage

The low-cost airline demanded the abolition of the rule on free transportation of handbags.

Supreme Court considered on Tuesday the claim of the low-cost carrier Pobeda against the Ministry of Transport: the airline demanded the repeal of the clause of the federal aviation rules on free transportation in addition to hand luggage(minimum 5 kg per passenger) handbags, briefcases, suitcases, bouquets of flowers, outerwear and backpacks.

This clause imposes unlimited obligations on airlines, Pobeda believes. The rules of the low-cost airline are different: you can take into the cabin for free everything that fits in a calibrator 36x30x27 cm; such luggage, according to the Boeing company, can be placed on the luggage racks of a Boeing 737-800 aircraft (Pobeda has 20 of them) configured for 189 passengers, he said Pobeda general director Andrei Kalmykov is in court. The rest must be checked in as luggage and paid for.

The prosecutor's office demands that Pobeda comply with federal regulations and carry all the items on the list for free in the cabin.

Kalmykov and Pobeda lawyer Alexey Tankevich brought a calibrator and samples of things from the mandatory list to the court to show that the rules are impossible to implement: it is impossible to place them in the cabin of a low-cost airline without violating safety requirements. The layout of the seats is as dense as possible, the chairs are thin, there is no room for things under them, Kalmykov assured. And Tankevich warned that flowers are a strong allergen, and there is a limited amount of air on the plane.

Pobeda hired lawyer Heinrich Padva for the trial, his fee was up to 40,000 rubles. per hour of work. The disputed clause does not limit the size and weight of additional items, and therefore contradicts another clause of the rules, which gives the right to carry free hand luggage that fits in the calibrator, Padva said. It often happens that the first passengers to enter fill the luggage racks, Padva argued, and the next ones simply have nowhere to put their things, they are forced to hold them in their hands; with any turbulence, things will fly around the cabin. It is not clear why the Ministry of Transport does not agree with this, the lawyer concluded.

If you follow the rules, then Pobeda will have to put things in luggage during boarding, which will increase the turnaround time of aircraft by at least 30%, Kalmykov wrote to Transport Minister Evgeny Dietrich in July: this will destroy the business model of the low-cost airline and will force Pobeda to develop as a classic airline with appropriate fares.

Items from the disputed list are difficult to weigh, but they are needed for a comfortable flight, which is why they were assigned above the norm, Svetlana Tonkikh, a representative of the Ministry of Transport, said in court.

The Air Code requires consideration performance characteristics aircraft when drawing up the rules for transporting things in the cabin, Kalmykov said, and asked whether the Ministry of Transport took into account the characteristics of the Boeing 737-800 specifically? Judge Yuri Ivannikov asked the same question. Representatives of the Ministry of Transport Tonkikh and Ekaterina Sukharnikova avoided answering this question several times, but in the end Sukharnikova said that they had taken into account not specific types, but all aircraft. “From An-2 to Boeing 747,” Kalmykov quipped. Officials said that the requirement Air Code taking into account the characteristics of the aircraft is a technical error. “This is your opinion,” Kalmykov objected, “but the Air Code has absolute priority over federal aviation regulations.”

Judge Yuri Ivannikov spent a long time asking representatives of the Ministry of Transport where to transport things in the cabin if they do not fit on the shelves? How can we prevent passengers from abusing this rule and violating the rights of other passengers to berths? They can be placed on shelves, Sukharnikova insisted, and controversial everyday issues can somehow be resolved on the spot. But how can a carrier place things if there is no space? The judge wondered. There is always room on the luggage racks, the official did not give up.

The course of the trial seemed to be in favor of the low-cost airline, but Judge Ivannikov, returning from the deliberation room, announced that he had denied Pobeda’s claim.

The decision will come into force after the preparation of the motivation part. Kalmykov said that it would be appealed to the appeal board of the Supreme Court.

The appeal obliged Pobeda to change the rules for carrying hand luggage. The Court of Appeal concluded that the airline does not have the right to charge passengers additional money for baggage carried in the cabin weighing less than 10 kg. However, Pobeda will continue to challenge this decision, since it believes that the ticket price includes only a limited set of things that can be carried without additional payment.

The Ninth Arbitration Court of Appeal upheld the decision of the previous instance, according to which the low-cost carrier Pobeda (part of the Aeroflot group) is obliged to change the list of items from hand luggage that a passenger has the right to carry without additional payment.

The reason for the legal proceedings, which started at the beginning of the year, was an inspection by Rostransnadzor based on an appeal from State Duma deputy Alena Arshinova. The deputy reported that the airline representative ordered her to pay an additional 2 thousand rubles. for carrying a “handbag in the form of a backpack” weighing up to 9 kg in the aircraft cabin. But the defendant stated that the Federal Aviation Regulations (FAR) require free transportation of only a limited set of things, including handbags and briefcases, and “nothing is said about backpacks in the FAR.” In addition, the legislation does not clearly indicate restrictions on weight and size, the company insists. Therefore, based on the operating rules of Pobeda, the price of a low-cost airline ticket now only includes the possibility of transporting up to 10 kg of luggage, provided that it is checked in as luggage and not carried on board the plane. Otherwise, for each piece of luggage in the cabin you need to pay from 999 rubles. up to 2 thousand rubles (€25–35 for international flights).

Judge Ekaterina Aksenova, who considered the case in the court of first instance, commenting on the applicant’s words, called the difference between a handbag and a small backpack “a game of wording.” She also clarified that when entering the plane, Ms. Arshinova only had a “backpack” in her hands. The court indicated in the decision that “having established the type of baggage included in the carriage as a “handbag,” Pobeda reserved the right to decide what type of handbag is or is not suitable for this definition, which is unacceptable and contradicts the FAP.”

The press service of Pobeda told Kommersant that they will continue to challenge this decision.

Note that the rules of one of the largest European low-cost airlines - the British airline EasyJet - do not limit the weight of hand luggage if it meets certain dimensions and the passenger is able to place it on the luggage rack without assistance. The Irish low-cost airline Ryanair includes in the ticket price two pieces of hand luggage of certain dimensions, the weight of one of which should not exceed 10 kg.

Elizaveta Kuznetsova

How Pobeda announced the introduction of fees for the carriage of duty-free goods

Low-cost airline Pobeda (part of the Aeroflot group) in November 2015 announced the introduction of a fee for the carriage of Duty Free packages on international flights. The cost of the service averaged 700 rubles. Meanwhile, the conditions of transportation of the Pobeda raised questions from Rospotrebnadzor.

Why “Victory” is not expected in Europe

Aeroflot's low-cost subsidiary Pobeda encountered difficulties in entering foreign routes in July. The German Lufthansa blocked Pobeda’s idea to sell cheap all-inclusive Fly&Bus tickets with delivery of passengers to Zurich, and in the Austrian Innsbruck the low-cost airline did not obtain slots from Austrian Airlines. The fears of competitors are justified: after the start of Pobeda flights to Bergamo, Alitalia stopped flights from there to Moscow. However, in Russia “Victory” has similar difficulties: development domestic destinations bears the risk of competition with other airlines of the Aeroflot group.

Punishing passengers for wanting to save on ticket prices. As it turns out, these quirks of the carrier came into insoluble conflict with the Federal Aviation Rules of October 10, 2007, and Rostransnadzor ordered the Aeroflot subsidiary to eliminate the violations back in February. The airline appealed to the Moscow Arbitration Court, where the case was considered on the merits yesterday.

Believe it or not, but this trial, like all previous ones, “Victory” lost outright. Arbitration judge Ekaterina Aksyonova upheld all points of the supervisory authority's order. This means that Pobeda is obligated to start feeding passengers on board its flights and stop requiring them to pay extra for backpacks and handbags as separate pieces of luggage.

Unfortunately, the issue of rudeness of airline service personnel to passengers was not considered (although Rostransnadzor receives complaints about this too).

Does yesterday's court decision mean that Pobeda will change its boorish ways in the future? Previous experience does not give us the slightest reason for such an optimistic forecast. As I already wrote, the policy of Aeroflot’s subsidiary in this matter is principled and completely conscious. And although Pobeda does not spare money on lawyers, challenging every order of supervisory authorities in arbitration courts of three instances, it is in no hurry to enforce court decisions on its own claims. The first protocol on administrative violation in connection with the illegal collection of fees from passengers for hand luggage was drawn up in relation to Pobeda on May 7, 2015. Resolution on the guilt of “Victory” in committing an offense, liability for which is provided for in Part 1 of Art. 14.8 of the Code of Administrative Offenses of the Russian Federation, issued on June 2, 2015 (with reference to the same paragraph 135 of the Federal Aviation Rules on standards free transportation hand luggage). The Moscow Arbitration Court, where Pobeda appealed this ruling, rejected the airline’s claim on November 2, 2015, confirming the decision that it was guilty. Having failed to achieve success in the first instance, the airline immediately filed an appeal, lost again, sent a cassation appeal to the Moscow District Arbitration Court - and lost the case for the third time, having exhausted all possibilities of legal challenge. 5 months have passed since then, but Pobeda still hasn’t bothered to bring its baggage transportation standards into line with current federal legislation.

The logic here is exactly the same as that Ilya Varlamov clearly explained in his post: during air transportation, the passenger does not have any rights. Neither those that are prescribed in federal laws, nor those that he supposedly received by purchasing a ticket. He may be required to pay additional fees at any time, he may not be allowed on the plane or removed from the flight if he refuses to pay the illegal fee (as happened with Public Chamber member Dmitry Chugunov, based on whose complaint Rostransnadzor issued its February order).

There are exactly two cures for this disease: legal and market. For example, in the USA, a passenger can file a lawsuit against the airline, recovering from it not only moral damages, but also punitive damages for the unlawful actions of the crew. For example, US citizen Samantha Carrington, who was removed from the flight by flight attendants and handed over to the FBI on flimsy suspicion of “terrorism,” in 2006 sued Southwest Airlines for $2.5 million in moral damages and a $25 million fine, the whole purpose of which was to discourage the airline from abusing lack of rights for passengers on board. I know nothing about similar verdicts in Russia.

The market cure lies in banal competition between air carriers. If Google passenger reviews of Pobeda Airlines, then with the very first link, without going to any website, we will see its eloquent consumer rating: 2.25 on a five-point scale, based on reviews of 10,240 passengers (purely for comparison: Aeroflot has 4.3 points based on 31,743 reviews) . Positive reviews about Pobeda come mainly from Platon Karataevs, who the day before had read horror stories about this carrier, transferred things from a backpack to a briefcase, and paid for everything in advance additional services, and in the end their flight went well, which left them pleasantly surprised. It is clear that with such a reputation with the carrier, any passenger who has the opportunity to choose will refuse Pobeda’s disservices. But this, as I already explained, is part of the parent company’s intention. Passengers of low-cost airlines are deliberately taught that cheap service cannot be of high quality. And neither Rostransnadzor nor the Moscow Arbitration Court can do anything about it.

MOSCOW, November 20 – RIA Novosti. The Supreme Court rejected the appeal of Pobeda Airlines regarding the carriage of hand luggage, a RIA Novosti correspondent reports from the courtroom.

The representative of the Ministry of Transport, in turn, noted that according to the standards discussed in Pobeda, it will be impossible to transport an ordinary bag or jacket.

“Given that Pobeda has baggage-free fares, which means an additional payment, it seems to us that the rights of passengers will be violated in this way,” explained a representative of the Ministry of Transport.

The airline's general director objected to the department's arguments. He recalled that Pobeda is a low-cost airline with increased passenger capacity, which was achieved, among other things, by installing thinner seats and a dense layout.

“Passengers whose belongings do not fit into the luggage compartment of the plane send their belongings under the seats, which is contrary to safety standards, especially during evacuation,” Kalmykov said.

He called the main problem the lack of balance between the passenger’s right to carry hand luggage and ensuring the safe transportation of baggage. The general director asked the court to invalidate the law regarding the airline’s obligation to accept oversized bags in excess of the carry-on baggage allowance.

"We cannot fulfill current rule which we dispute, and ensure flight safety. In court, we clearly demonstrated that the list of things established by the rules cannot be transported in the cabin of an aircraft,” he said.

According to Kalmykov, the company will file a supervisory complaint against the decision. In case of refusal, the airline will be forced to set symbolic dimensions for hand luggage, he added.

“We will most likely set ridiculous dimensions for hand luggage, for example 10 by 10 by 10 centimeters; we will carry everything else in addition to hand luggage, as the Ministry of Transport asks,” concluded the head of the company.

Pobeda decided to challenge the rules because, according to the carrier, they do not take into account the capacity of the aircraft's luggage compartments. As Kalmykov noted, due to the fact that Pobeda flights are almost always 100 percent loaded, passengers can only take on board the calculated baggage allowance (36*30*27 cm). It is impossible to place anything more in the cabin beyond these dimensions, Kalmykov said. At the same time, the airline did not demand the removal of wheelchairs, rollators, walkers, crutches, and cribs from the list.

Illustration: Pravo.ru/Petr Kozlov

The Supreme Court considered the claim of Pobeda Airlines. The low-cost airline of the Aeroflot group demanded that the clause in the rules for the carriage of hand luggage, obliging the carrier to accept on board things in excess of the 5 kg limit - backpacks, handbags, bouquets and suits in a suitcase, be declared illegal. Passengers are being abused, regulations were adopted without taking into account technical characteristics aircraft, and there was simply nowhere to put things in the cabin, representatives of the carrier insisted.

The respondents in the dispute were the Ministry of Transport and the Ministry of Justice. The company demanded that clause 135 be declared illegal General rules air transport passengers, baggage and cargo, approved by order of the Ministry of Transport in October 2017. The disputed clause contains a list of items that can be taken on board in excess of the free hand luggage limit, which today is 5 kg. The list included a backpack, a handbag, a bouquet of flowers, outerwear, baby food for a child during the flight, a suit in a suitcase, a device for carrying a child, medications in the amount necessary for the flight, special crutches, canes, walkers, rollators and others rehabilitation equipment, a folding wheelchair and goods purchased in duty free. Everything, with the exception of “socially significant items” - medicines, baby food, carrying and medical equipment - should not be transported free of charge, Pobeda believes.

is the minimum weight of hand luggage for a flight passenger. The rest is designated as "excess" carry-on baggage.

The position of the applicants, who, in addition to representatives of the air carrier itself, were represented in court by lawyer Genrikh Padva, was that the Ministry of Transport unlawfully invaded the sphere legal regulation Air Code and arbitrarily established the carrier’s obligation to accept items in excess of the free carry-on baggage allowance established by paragraphs. 2.1 clause 2 art. 106 VK and clause 133 FAP-82. Such an obligation is not provided for by federal law, Pobeda representatives insisted.

In addition, they drew the court’s attention to the fact that the contested paragraph contradicts paragraph 133 of the same rules. The carrier has mutually exclusive responsibilities: on the one hand, he must carry hand luggage, the weight and dimensions of which allow it to be safely placed in the cabin (clause 133 of FAP-82), on the other hand, he must accept items additional to hand luggage without taking into account their weight and dimensions and the ability to place them safely - with the exception of a backpack (clause 135 of FAP-82), despite the fact that given the dimensions of the aircraft this is impossible.

Meanwhile, a week before the consideration of the case, the Ministry of Transport decided to finally resolve the issue of hand luggage and presented a bill proposing to change clause 133 of the FAP. According to the bill, the text of which is published on the official portal of regulatory legal acts, it is proposed to completely eliminate the weighing of items that can be taken on board in addition to hand luggage (exceeding the 5 kg required by law), including women's handbags, briefcases, bouquets of flowers, etc. d.

In other words, it is proposed to exclude the free carriage of bags, briefcases and other things from clause 135 of the FAP as carriage “in excess of the norm” and make the transportation of these items part of this free norm for the carrier.

The free carry-on baggage allowance also does not include the weight of a backpack, packaged goods from duty free and devices for carrying a child (baby cradle, car seat for children under 2 years old, strollers, etc.). At the same time, the carrier can limit the weight and dimensions of these items so that they can be safely placed in the cabin. So they will have to be weighed. According to the current version of the rules, if the carry-on baggage allowance is at least 5 kg, there are no exceptions for weighing.

PENALT FOR OVERBOOKING

suggested by the Ministry of Transport. It is proposed to collect fines in favor of passengers. The ministry refused to legalize overbooking.

Representatives of the Ministry of Transport petitioned to postpone the consideration of the case, citing the fact that the bill directly related to the contested provisions was under consideration. But the presiding judge rejected the request, agreeing with the prosecutor and the applicant that this did not change the disputed circumstances.

During the hearing, the applicants again stated their position. They emphasized: in Art. 106 VK states that passengers have the right to free carry-on luggage within the limits established by the carrier in accordance with the FAP, approved on the basis of the requirements of the aircraft’s operational documentation. It was the approval of the requirements that raised the most questions.

The airline's representative, General Director Andrei Kalmykov, emphasized that no one took into account the characteristics of their aircraft, although the norms proposed by Pobeda for the volume of hand luggage are based on the recommendation presented by Boeing: things can only be placed on shelves, but not under seats, and excess standards for luggage volumes will affect both the safety and comfort of passengers. The Ministry of Transport stated that the approval of the requirements was carried out by a working group, including carriers and passengers, and was based on the “average parameters” of the aircraft. At the same time, standards for hand luggage were drawn up, taking into account the fact that things can be placed on luggage racks and under the seat in front. There is no such possibility on Pobeda aircraft. The judge’s question about how FAP should be applied to Pobeda, taking into account the balance of interests of the parties, remained unanswered.

Only you have problems, other carriers have no complaints,” representatives of the Ministry of Transport indicated.

“Only we have such a dense layout of the aircraft,” Andrei Kalmykov objected.

“We proceeded from the fact that some things cannot be weighed, but they may be needed during the flight, before or after, a bouquet is for romantics, outerwear is for running to the ramp in cold weather,” explained the representative of the Ministry of Transport and emphasized that the decision was based on the list compulsory subjects - collegiate.

But Pobeda didn’t think so. Representatives of Pobeda suggested refusing the bouquet, citing possible allergies of passengers. “Passengers must warn in advance about health problems,” a representative of the Ministry of Transport objected.

One of the most important criteria of a legislative act is certainty. It had to be formulated so that it could be interpreted unambiguously. Clause 135 of the FPA can be interpreted in any way you like. If we talk about the balance between passenger convenience and traffic safety, the priority is safety, and it is not met under these standards. This rule is harmful to both the carrier and citizens.

Heinrich Padva, lawyer

Also in Pobeda they complained that the sizes of a handbag or briefcase are not regulated anywhere; in a briefcase, the size of which is not inferior to a luggage bag, you can carry a lot of clothes, and there is no way to control this, and the clause regarding the free transportation of outerwear leads to abuses, for example on Italian flights. “Passengers carry three fur coats, citing the fact that these are outerwear,” Kalmykov was indignant. The question of outerwear caused a heated discussion: the airline representative had to separately explain: no one will take into account the clothes that the passenger is wearing: no one weighs them anyway. “If it’s a passenger’s clothes, no one is against it, but today’s standards allow you to carry additional things. We are in favor of establishing clear and understandable rules. And for socially significant things, we have a separate shelf, and if space runs out, we will transport everything to you for free. cargo compartment, the passenger must warn about this 24 hours in advance,” Andrei Kalmykov convinced the court.

The Ministry of Transport stated that they encountered the problem of additional outerwear for the first time and are “ready for dialogue.”

To nullify abuses on all sides is an impossible task; all issues that arise in practice must be resolved by the participants in the situation,” noted a representative of the Ministry of Transport.

Why not indicate to the FAP that we must proceed from the carrier’s standards? The carrier needs at least minimal tools to control hand luggage, Pobeda objected.

The representative of the Ministry of Justice supported the position of the Ministry of Transport, while recognizing that the requirements of the FAP should be developed in accordance with Art. 106 VK.

Nevertheless, after listening to the arguments of the parties, he refused to satisfy Pobeda’s demands. Heinrich Padva said that Pobeda will likely challenge the decision made by the Supreme Court. The general director of the airline, Andrei Kalmykov, said that if the decision does come into legal force, the airline will have to look for a way out, for example, placing hand luggage “in excess of the norm” in luggage, since it is not physically possible to place it on the shelves - it is unsafe. As a result, this may also affect the cost of air tickets.