Airlines including easyJet, Ryanair, BMI Baby, Thomas Cook & Aer Lingus to include surcharges in overall price OFT rules
Airlines such as BMI Baby, Wizz Air, Thomas Cook and Ryanair have agreed to include debit card surcharges in their headline price, the Office of Fair Trading has announced.
12 airlines, including Aer Lingus, Eastern Airways, easyJet, Jet2, German Wing, Lufthansa and Thomson have agreed to now declare surcharges such as credit card payment for online bookings, rather than surprise consumers at the end of the booking process.
The agreement by the companies comes as a result of them being subject to an OFT consumer law investigation, which has seen the organisation conclude that customers should not incur a surcharge for booking with the debit card online.
Surcharges may still be imposed for the use of credit cards, although this will be done at the beginning of the booking process.
Changes by a number of the organisations to their pricing structures have already been made on websites and marketing materials, agreed during the course of the investigation, with all advertising scheduled to have been altered by 1 August. Further changes will also be made in the following months, the OFT has said.
It has been estimated that debit and credit card surcharging in the airlines sector cost consumers £300 million a year.
Clive Maxwell, the OFT's Chief Executive, said: “This is a great outcome for the millions of people who buy flights online. It is important that the cost presented when they search for a flight is realistic and that they are not surprised by extra charges. Otherwise it is harder for them to shop around for the best deal.
“Because of our enforcement action, most airlines have already made their headline prices and other payment charges easier to understand by changing their systems and processes. The rest will complete changes in the coming months. We made it clear from the start that we would use all of our enforcement powers, including court action if necessary, but are pleased to have reached agreement with the airlines before court proceedings were required.”