E.U. Says, Travel Sites To Clean Up Their Act, or Face Legislation

[engine]

One in three European consumers are being misled or ripped off by Web sites selling airline tickets, the European Union's consumer chief said on Thursday, warning the industry to improve or face legal action.

"It is unacceptable that one in three consumers going to book a plane ticket online is being ripped off or misled and confused," EU Consumer Commissioner Meglena Kuneva told a news conference.

"But my message to industry is clear, act now or we will act. We will need to see credible evidence of improvement to clean up these sales and marketing practices within the airline sector by May 1st next year or we will be left with no choice but to intervene."

E.U. Says, Travel Sites To Clean Up Their Act, or Face Legislation [uk.reuters.com]

[rytis]

"clean up ... by May 1st next year"

Hmmm, to me it sounds like granted to continue for one more year?

Airlines only need to include airport taxes into the advertised airfare prices, and put all the check-boxes for extras into some logical spot, so that you don't have to spend hours trying to uncheck them all, scattered throughout the ordering process.

[Moncao]

God bless the EU. I looked at how Ryanair bump prices up (extra for luggage, etc.) and it is IMHO a rip off.

[vincevincevince]

What gets me is when they advertise 'prices from' which aren't true. They should get massive fines if they say 'prices to London from $600' anywhere if there are no currently bookable seats at that rate, either within a specified period ('prices to London from $600 this June') or within the next month if period unspecified.

[SlyOldDog]

The worst deception is taxes and fees. Taxes, ok, but the fees are imaginary.

I clicked details to see what the fees were on SkyEurope and It just said "other"

[rj87uk]

I agree but action I would rather be taken sooner rather than later. I worked for a travel company and they got prices from major tour operators and their prices also were completely off before getting the "final" price and I was thinking no one is going to book that after thinking its really cheap then getting the final price and bam and extra £100+ per ticket.

[gamiziuk]

"Fee" is usually the commission paid out to a travel agent or affiliate.

[vincevincevince]

"Fee" is usually the commission paid out to a travel agent or affiliate.

Which in most industries is already included in the price of the item, and should be included with flights. Those are marketing expenses and not fees!

[Habtom]

prices to London from $600

vincevincevince, that seems to be a very normal way of attracting customers in the travel industry. I am not saying it is right, but almost any travel portal I know do the same thing.

The price mentioned seems to be the minimum rate out of all seasons, which seem to make it technically logical, but also can be seen as very deceptive from the customer point of view.