MEP Concern at Misleading Flight Websites

12.00.00am BST (GMT +0100) Fri 9th May 2008

Elspeth Attwooll MEP is urging the European Commission to do more to make sure that airlines are not deliberately misleading customers when they buy flights online.

New research has found "serious and persistent consumer problems" across the board during a survey of 386 airline websites from 13 of the EU's 27 Member States. As many as one in three of the all sites surveyed were found to be in serious breach of EU consumer law.

And while the Commission has been putting pressure on these companies to change their approach, Elspeth Attwooll MEP wants more to be done to protect the thousands of Scots who buy flights online each year - even naming and shaming the guilty companies.

The Liberal Democrat MEP for Scotland said:

"I'm glad that the Commission is acting upon this, but more has to be done to stop airlines using these unfair practices. The price advertised is rarely, if ever, the final price actually paid. Once extra charges for things like airport tax and extra baggage are applied the total is nowhere near the advertised price. Many sites are also advertising special offers that don't even exist.

The Commission has sent out a warning. If this isn't heeded then the companies in question should be named and shamed".

ENDS

Notes:

The Commission research found that:

• 1 in 3 websites have required follow up enforcement action for breaches of consumer law.

• Many sites had multiple problems.

• The problems exist across the airline industry as a whole - airlines and tour operators.

• The problems persist amongst a wide range of companies. The 137 websites under investigation represent about 80 companies - including large brand names and lesser known companies.

• Enforcement has now passed 50%.

• Enforcement levels for national and cross border enforcement differ substantially. The report shows a 55% enforcement/correction rate (50 out of 90), for national sites, where authorities are dealing with companies based in their own country.

• Transparency. Legal constraints prevent the majority of Member States from publishing company names at this stage, while administrative or legal proceedings are ongoing. This is a key issue for the future functioning of the network. Norway and Sweden have made public lists of company websites under investigation (see link below).

For more detailed results, see the Commission press release at: http://europa.eu/rapid/pressReleasesAction.do?reference=IP/08/722&format=HTML&aged=0&language=EN&guiLanguage=en

Or for more on the wider campaign, go to the Commission's 'Airline Sweep' homepage at: http://ec.europa.eu/consumers/enforcement/sweep/index_en.htm