Airlines to be clearer about 'hidden' debit and credit card charges
7th July 2012
Through enforcement action by the Office of Fair Trading (OFT), 12 airlines will now include debit card charges in their headline prices and be clearer about credit card surcharges
A spokesperson for the OFT said that: “The point was so that travellers can shop around more easily and find the best deal for them.
“The main benefit is that [people] can compare prices more readily,” they added. Additional credit card surcharges will also be made “much clearer” to customers, rather than being revealed after filling out a number of forms on a website. People will now be “better informed”.
After a super-complaint made by consumer group Which? to the OFT last year Aer Lingus, BMI Baby, Eastern Airways, easyjet, Flybe, German Wings, Jet2, Lufthansa, Thomas Cook, Ryanair, Thomson and Wizz Air have agreed to be clearer about any extra charges for debit and credit cards in the initial stages of booking. Credit card surcharges are estimated to cost customers £300m a year. Airlines will be changing their advertising and headline prices before August; including Ryanair, who will include their £6 per flight administration fee in advertised prices and will be changing their headline prices accordingly.
"It is good news that debit card surcharges will be displayed in the headline price of flights – as long as the airlines do not use this as an excuse to push up their prices," said Which? Chief Executive Peter Vicary-Smith.
The OFT said that most airlines were incorporating the debit card charges into their headline prices, rather than increasing the prices themselves, and offering discounts for their preferred method of payment. “It pushes up the headline price, but it's what customers would have had to have paid anyway.”
Eastern Airways, easyJet, Flybe, German Wings, Lufthansa, Thomas Cook, Thomson and Wizz Air have already altered their pricing structures, websites and marketing materials.
The government is hoping to extend this by bringing in legislation to ban excessive debit and credit card charges across the economy.
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