Ryanair has been strongly criticised by a consumer watchdog organisation in Britain for the way it deals with complaints from passengers whose baggage has been damaged.
The Air Transport Users Council said Ryanair and Air France were disproportionately represented in complaints about the way airlines handled baggage claims.
The council also claimed that Ryan air passengers had to go to "inordinate lengths" to obtain a refund if their credit card had been debited more than once for the same ticket. The airline said yesterday it was working on the problem but it did not want to become "the compensator of last resort" for "inappropriate" or "badly packed" luggage.
"We hope to formulate a suitable form of wording which provides passengers with adequate protection against negligent handling of their baggage," a statement from the company said.
While it was acceptable to compensate passengers at the rate of £14 a kilo when air fares were £200 or £300 return, it was "a crazy situation" that passengers flying on air fares of as little as £9 return, could make claims for £600 because a wheel on a suitcase had been damaged or a zip had burst on an over-packed bag.
A spokesman for the airline said double-charging of credit cards was one of the teething problems when Internet bookings began but customers had since been refunded.
The council said it had submitted a formal complaint to the British Office of Fair Trading about Ryanair's position on baggage claims. "To date the airline has refused to do so [reconsider its position] and it appears that in view of this it may be necessary for the Office of Fair Trading to resort to legal action," the council said.
Ryanair said it was discussing the matter with the Office of Fair Trading.
The Air Transport Users Council, established 25 years ago by the British Civil Aviation Authority, stressed that the high level of complaints against Ryanair and Air France did not mean those airlines were more likely to mishandle baggage than their competitors, rather it was a reflection of how they dealt with such claims.
"Every complainant, whatever they have paid for their ticket, should be entitled to a courteous, reasoned response and an apology from the airline concerned when they have had legitimate cause to complain," the council said.