Ryanair's policy of charging ensaimadas as hand luggage unleashes controversy in the Balearic Islands

The image of tourists of all backgrounds and conditions holding boxes of ensaimada by the strings that close the lid and walking through the terminals of Palma airport are daily. The typical Mallorcan sweet is sold in more than 230 ovens on the island in different formats and sizes. With sweet or salty interiors, smooth when not filled, family size or to taste as a couple, it is one of the souvenirs that most tourists choose to give away on the return home after the holidays. That's what a Mallorcan couple traveling to Germany thought until when they arrived at the company's check-in counter to Ryanair they demanded 45 euros each for checking the traditional sweet as hand luggage. Their fare did not allow them to bring anything on board and the boxes were considered as one more package. Those ensaimadas bought in a pastry shop in Porreres were tasted with pleasure by the cleaning staff of the airport before the refusal of the couple to pay 90 euros to put them on the plane.

Aena gives airlines the freedom to apply their own baggage policies, which vary significantly from one to another. For example, while Vueling does not allow hand luggage to be brought into the aircraft cabin without paying for it, Air Europa always includes it free of charge in its fares. The controversy has been unleashed among the ovens of the islands because Ryanair considers that the typical Mallorcan sweet is an extra package, equating its treatment to that of a carry-on suitcase when boarding the plane. It is a practice that the Irish company has been carrying out for some years, but that has hardened in recent months so it is impossible to upload the box to the plane without paying. In fact, right now the airline only allows access with an ensaimada without paying an additional cost if it has been purchased in the airport stores after passing the security control.

While Ryanair applies a restrictive policy and charges up to 45 euros to board the plane, Air Europa specifies on its website that it allows each passenger to transport up to two ensaimadas packaged together per person in the cabin of the plane at no additional cost. Vueling also allows access with two of these sweets per person while Iberia Express gives the go-ahead to travel with one box of ensaimada per person during the journey. The typical box that is most sold for travel, round or octagonal, has a diameter that varies between 25 and 30 centimeters.

The Government of the Balearic Islands, through the Ministry of Tourism, Work and Economic Model, together with the Consell de Mallorca, are taking steps to organize a meeting between Ryanair and the Association of Bakers and Confectioners of the islands to reach an agreement so that passengers can access the plane with this gastronomic souvenir without paying for it. "The exception in airlines is Ryanair, which considers ensaimadas a package. The other low cost companies in the middle of summer we can not say that they are as restrictive as her, "says Josep Magraner, manager of the association. The pastry chefs protest because the measure harms the entire sector, which produces more than 40,000 ensaimadas daily, and benefits only the oven that has the concession of all the stores within the airport of Son Sant Joan.

Problems with the 'flaó'

Magraner affirms that they have also been informed of cases of collection as hand luggage of the traditional Ibizan flaó, the cheesecake and mint typical of the Pitiusan island that is also sold to take away in round cardboard boxes. "Taking into account that the insular fact penalizes us in everything, restricting the trade of the ensaimada harms us even more. People come here and the ensaimada is a product that they like to take with them," says Magraner, who verified how on one of the company's flights from the airport there were only a couple of tourists with boxes of ensaimada bought in the same enclosure.

In the association of consumers of the Balearic Islands Consubal have received complaints about the impediments of Ryanair when accessing the plane with ensaimadas. "We have many complaints from customers for their baggage policy, especially for not applying the resident discount on suitcases and for forcing them to check in," says its president Alfonso Rodríguez, who argues that many times access with an ensaimada to their planes depends on ground staff and "the mood and disposition they have that day." He always recommends reading the conditions of the fare well before hiring it, despite the difficulties that, he says, airlines put when it comes to providing them correctly on their websites.

From the Association of Bakers and Confectioners they hope to reach an agreement with the company, which this summer operates 84 routes throughout Europe from Palma airport, in a meeting that is expected to be held next week. The ensaimada, which has the protected geographical indication, will remain, despite Ryanair, one of the most purchased products by the millions of tourists who come every year to visit the archipelago. "We only hope that they allow us to value a product with history and tradition" concludes Magraner.

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