EasyJet admits luggage size checker at UK airport was 'faulty' - as passenger refunded nearly £100 over baggage fine
Adalsteinn Svan Hjelm and his daughter were charged almost £50 each despite having suspicions the sizer was faulty
Two airline passengers have won a dispute with easyJet after they were incorrectly charged almost £100 despite their baggage fitting within the official requirements.
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Adalsteinn Svan Hjelm was travelling through London Gatwick with his teenage daughter but when their belongings were checked in a sizing cage and told by staff that the luggage did not fit.
The pair, who were travelling from Iceland to Greece via the UK hub, were charged a fee of £48 each, which was then appealed.
Mr Hjelm said he suspected that the baggage size had been "altered" due to the internal side bulkheads being positioned incorrectly.
He protested the decision at the airport, but easyJet staff ignored his argument and instead collected the £96 fee.
The father was unsuccessful with the customer service department and instead reached out to the manufacturer of the bags, Samsonite, which confirmed that the luggage was designed to fit easyJet's sizers.
He then emailed members of the carrier's senior leadership team with attached photos which proved his position.
It was then that a helpful easyJet worker heard him out and launched an investigation into the sizer, which ruled it had been incorrectly placed.
The bill was refunded and Mr Hjelm told Which?: "What concerns me most is that neither easyJet nor AviationADR independently inspected or physically measured the baggage sizer.
"Instead, the decision relied solely on easyJet's assurance that the equipment was correctly configured.
Rory Boland, Editor of Which? Travel commented: "This is the second time we have caught easyJet wrongfully fining travellers to line their own pockets.
"Who knows how many passengers have been forced to pay a penalty fee because of easyJet's own ineptitude.
"What we do know is easyJet is profiting from fining passengers for bags it claims are oversized, so it's perhaps unsurprising that it has not committed to take any wider action to review how it checks bag sizes."
A spokesperson for the airline said: "We always want to ensure our cabin bag rules are applied fairly.
"The bag sizers are checked weekly, or sooner if an issue is identified, and maintained and if an issue with a bag sizer is identified, it is reported by our ground crew and removed and fixed.
"Despite the independent Aviation ADR ruling in our favour, we have now provided Mr Hjelm with a refund as a gesture of goodwill."