Italy's antitrust authority opens probe into easyJet over baggage pricing

MILAN, May 26 (Reuters) - Italy's ​antitrust authority has opened an investigation into budget airline ​easyJet ‌over alleged unfair business practices related to ⁠baggage charging, it said on Tuesday.

The ⁠authority said the ​company's website and app advertised only the average price for checked baggage and sports equipment on ​round ‌trips, but made bundled purchases the default option, even when customers did not want them.

Consumers could, therefore, be misled ​about the actual price for each leg of ‌the journey and would have to interrupt the online booking process ‌to override easyJet's default option if they wanted the add-on for only one leg of ​the journey, it said.

EasyJet said in an emailed ‌statement it had "always acted in line with applicable consumer laws and remains committed to ensuring transparency ⁠and ⁠fairness" for its customers.

"We ‌will fully cooperate with the authority throughout its investigation. We ​will ​now carefully review the authority's notice ‌and consider our next steps," it added. (Reporting by Gianluca Semeraro, editing by Cristina Carlevaro, Bernadette Baum and Jan Harvey)

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