ABTA WELCOME EU MOVE TO OUTLAW MISLEADING PRICES
Date published: 09 July 2008ABTA welcomed the decision today by the European Parliament to ban airlines from advertising fares which do not include all non-optional charges. This widespread practice both misleads the public and puts honest travel companies and airlines at a disadvantage by making their fares seem more expensive.
ABTA and the Office of Fair Trading joined forces last year to stamp out this practise in the UK but it is still widespread in many of our European neighbours. ECTAA (The European and Travel Agents and Tour Operators Association) has lobbied Brussels for some time on this issue. Airlines commonly strip out charges such as taxes, airport fees and fuel supplements in their headline prices to lure customers into booking and then hit them with the real fare quite late in the booking process.
David Marshall, ABTA Head of Policy and Communications, said: “This move by the European Parliament follows on from the initiative taken by ABTA and the Office of Fair Trading in the UK to ban this unfair and misleading practice. This will send out the message loud and clear that action will be taken against any airlines tempted to fall back into bad habits.”
For further information
Sean Tipton, Communications Officer, tel: 020 7307 1902/1900
Frances Tuke, Public Relations Manager, tel: 020 7307 1903/1900
David Marshall, Head of Policy and Communications, tel: 020 7307 1912 Mobile: 07894 073010
Out of Hours: Contact the Duty Press Officer via pager: 07659 190987
Notes to editors
ABTA was founded in 1950 and currently has over 1,500 Members with 6,000 outlets. Members include travel agents, tour operators and support services right across the spectrum from small family-owned businesses to the largest tour operators.
ABTA is the largest travel association in the UK and its Members provide 90% of the foreign package holidays in the UK as well as selling millions of independent travel arrangements.
As part of its comprehensive package of services to members, ABTA, as a non-party political organisation, also provides an effective voice to represent the interests of its Members to government and key opinion formers at the highest levels. In the UK, these include, government ministers, constituency MPs, Select Committee members, senior civil servants and members of the political opposition parties in both Westminster and the devolved administrations in Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland.
In Europe, ABTA is forming close ties with members of the European Parliament, the European Commission and staff within the Director Generals’ Secretariats. ABTA works in partnership with ECTAA (the European grouping of travel agents and tour operators’ associations) to lobby on interests relevant to its Members.
