Italy’s antitrust organisation has launched an inquiry into budget airline easyJet on 26 May 2026. According to the Autorità Garante della Concorrenza e del Mercato, the carrier’s way of presenting additional baggage fees during its booking process could be misleading.
Since 26 May 2026, easyJet has been officially being investigated by the Italian competition watchdog Autorità Garante della Concorrenza e del Mercato (AGCM). The organisation argues that the carrier misleads customers during the booking process on the website and app, particularly when they opt to travel with checked baggage.
Off to Italy in the morning and get a notification from Easyjet – and you are absolutely sure they are cancelling your flight..
— Michael Volpe OBE (@NoisyMV) December 15, 2023
They're not – they are just checking that I really don't want to pay for extra baggage.
Allegedly, the airline automatically shows bundled purchases of checked baggage and/or sports equipment for round-trip flights as the default option. One-way travellers and those who only want to bring additional luggage on one leg of their trip are required to interrupt the booking and to override the airline’s default option.
“Only the average price of the service was advertised, and the default option was set to the combined purchase of the service for both legs of the journey, even when the customer was not actually interested,” the AGCM writes.
This means that travellers were consistently shown the average price of the service instead of the actual fee, thus leading to unfair commercial practices according to the watchdog. The misleading and aggressive commercial practice particularly goes against Articles 20, 21, 22, 24, and 25 of the Consumer Code, the AGCM argues. The launch of the investigation by the watchdog allegedly follows a request for voluntary compliance with which easyJet has not complied.
“We are aware of the proceedings opened by the AGCM and will fully cooperate with the Authority throughout its investigation. We believe we have always acted in line with applicable consumer laws and remain committed to ensuring transparency and fairness for our customers. We will now carefully review the Authority’s notice and consider our next steps,” an EasyJet spokesperson said about the matter.
AGCM investigations in the past
It is not the first time for the AGCM to be investigating a budget airline, or easyJet in particular. In May 2021, for example, the organisation handed out a €2.8 million fine to easyJet, Ryanair, and Volotea. The three airlines did not offer cash refunds for cancelled flights once Italy lifted its COVID-19 restrictions, opting for vouchers instead. Although easyJet appealed, the Lazio Regional Administrative Court in Rome rejected their claim in February 2025.
#Antitrust: sanzione di 4,2 milioni a #Ryanair per mancato #rimborso dei #volicancellati#easyJet #Volotea #tutelaconsumatori #pratichescorrette #trasporti #trasportoaereo #voucher #COVID19 #emergenzasanitaria https://t.co/JUs0AwMGeM
— Autorità Antitrust (@antitrust_it) May 24, 2021
Just last year, in December 2025, the AGCM issued a €255 million fine to Ryanair. The reason for its decision was the airline’s “abusive strategy” in obstructing third-party travel agencies, which allegedly started in April 2023. The antitrust organisation judged that the budget carrier used an elaborate strategy that included facial-recognition checks, payment blocks, and mass account deletions to deter travel agencies from purchasing its flights. However, Ryanair immediately decided to appeal the decision, and a definitive ruling hasn’t been made yet at the time of writing.
