BELGIUM/FILE: EU to crack down on airline websites hidden charges

Over half of Europe's airlines including Ryanair could be forced to close their Web sites next year if they fail to remedy problems shown by the EU consumer affairs watchdog in a probe carried out in September. The results of the investigation to be published on Wednesday (November 14) says "over 50 percent of all Web sites showed irregularities, in particular relating to price indications, contract terms and clarity of proposed conditions". Ryanair said on Tuesday (November 13) it welcomed the EU's investigation but said the European Commissioner for Consumers Meglena Kuneva should also tackle what it said was unfair fuel surcharges by the bigger airlines. The Brussels investigation, known as a "consumer sweep," focused on unfair pricing, hidden charges and terms and conditions not translated properly. The sweep was carried out with the help of 15 EU national authorities and Norway. Those airlines at fault were found guilty of practices which included showing the price of the ticket, before final purchase, without taxes and additional costs or even claiming that all fees were included but then adding them later; promising tickets for free or at a low price whilst such tickets were unavailable when the consumer wanted to buy them; displaying boxes for insurance or additional services which are ticked "yes" by default, trapping the consumer into buying unwanted items or being included on spam mailing lists. In other cases general terms of sale are not provided in the language version used by the consumer during the booking procedure - or not available at all in any language. Sometimes no information is given about the rights and procedures of cancellation, transferability or ability to change dates. The EU plans to demand clarification from the companies identified in the investigation or demand they end their practice within four months. The EU will also take legal action against airline websites that fail to apply the regulation and as a last resort it may close the websites altogether. The European Consumers Association BEUC said it was pleased the commission planned to crack down on misleading websites since most consumers find it very difficult to complain or even take legal action of their own against the low cost airlines. "Sometimes enforcement of consumer rights in this sector is very difficult because the recourse of going to court, for the consumer, is not, it is the last recourse and consumers don't always have the money or the time to go to court so they should be able to rely on other organisations or bodies to deal with their complaints and sometimes its not easy," said BEUC legal officer Nuria Rodriguez Murillo The results do not identify any airlines in particular, but the European Union's executive Commission intends to "publish a list of companies concerned" in four months' time. Last month, Spain's consumer rights watchdog said it had found misleading information on seven of 12 airline ticket Web sites including Ryanair -- Europe's biggest low-cost airline. The Spanish authorities also found faults with Spanish carriers Vueling , Iberia and Spanair. Belgium had the worst number of incidents, with 46 of 48 Web sites investigated found to be at fault. Of the 20 Web sites probed in Austria, none was found to break EU consumer rules. In order to help consumers get compensation in cases of misleading information Kuneva says she hopes to introduce a new system of "collective redress" aimed at giving European consumers more power to bring claims against providers of faulty goods or services. It would not be the same as the US-style class action but it would strengthen consumer rights. The BEUC says it wants to see a mechanism which could help consumers bring complaints forward and go to court without having to bear the legal cost individually. "We are calling for a European Union law on group actions so which would allow a group of consumers or a consumer organisation to represent in court a number of consumers which have the same problem," Murillo said. The Association of European Airlines (AEA) welcomed the EU's move to crack down on the low cost airlines. Spokeswoman Francoise Humbert said the problem was that the pricing competition was so fierce that low cost airlines were forced to find powerful ways of attracting customers. She said that with a few exceptions, most of her members played by the rule, although she admitted that some had to get their house in order before the end of the year. "The competitiveness of the sector is very intense specially with the emergence of low cost airlines and I think that's how it started but the important thing is that it will stop and that's something that we support because it will allow consumers to make the right choice," Humbert said Low cost airline Ryanair lashed back by accusing the British Airways, Air France, KLM and Lufthansa of increasing unfair fuel surcharges. The head of communications said in a statement that these members were "hedging their fuel at 65 to 75 US dollars per barrel, some 25 dollars below market price" But for the moment, the low cost airlines will be given 4 months to sort out their websites or face closure.

ITN Source | November 14, 2007

Tags:. .enforcement. .cancellation. .sweep. .regulation. .procedures