Are you paying the right price for your air travelling? Or you maybe one of the travellers who have been found to have been cheated by some airline and travel websites. The European Commission has revealed that one in three consumers is being ripped off, mislead and confused by airline websites through misleading advertisements. Some airline and travel websites where found to be breaking the law through concealing additional charges and misleading the public with promotional offers that were unobtainable.
The EU Commission warned the offending airline and travel companies could have their websites shutdown if they fail to improve.
Ms Meglena Kuneva, the EU Commissioner said, “it is unacceptable that 1 in 3 consumers going to book a plane ticket online is being ripped off or mislead and confused”.
Most offences relate to misleading pricing, additional charges that were not included in advertisements such as “airport charges”, booking fees or charges related to credit card payments, priority booking, luggage or fuel.
The Commission is taking enforcement action against 137 websites out of a total of 336 which were monitored in the “sweep” undertaken in 13 European countries.
Airlines depend heavily on websites for most of their passenger bookings.
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May 14th, 2008 at 9:21 am
There are a lot of fees that are tacked onto the price of the ticket and it is definitely up to the consumer to read the fine print.
May 14th, 2008 at 12:38 pm
Debo…. you are right, it’s in the small print, but again how many people really read the small print?
May 29th, 2008 at 12:34 am
I think the government should legislate against the use of the small print.
The small print has ruined people’s lives .