The internet has become a key channel of selling air tickets. Currently, all airlines have corporate and promotional websites to attract clients to interactive components that allow self-service booking, check-in and other services.

The more concern exists about costs, the more airlines tend to avoid commissions paid to travel agents and other marketing intermediaries. As airline websites present an easy way of comparing prices and booking tickets, travel agents lost their traditional role as air ticket sellers, at least in those countries with high internet penetration and trustworthy online paying methods.

As many airlines were showing attractive prices for flights that could not actually be bought for that price, as they were only one part of a return trip and could only be bought as such, or not including taxes and surcharges, consumers were often misled into buying tickets that were perhaps not the cheapest option and often far less attractive than they would have appeared at first sight as the total price would only be shown at the final part of the booking (not even then, in some cases).

In 2007, a first joint investigation of web sites in the context of the UCP Directive found potential irregularities in one third of the sites investigated. Over 400 websites were checked with clear evidence that the complexity of pricing structures and taxes, fees and charges applied for the airfare are very confusing.

Since then, Regulation 1008/2008 has entered into force and the commission wanted to know to what extent the sector is currently operating in line with the new Air services Regulation.  The study investigated the content of web pages of online travel agents and tour operators, airlines and air carriers and checked their performance of the provisions of the existing legislation at the time of the study. The EU airline ticket investigation examined the different stages of the booking process up to the point where a payment will actually be made and focused on three key practices:

• Clear Pricing: the price first advertised on a website should be a final price
• Availability: Any conditions to the offer, particularly limitations on the availability of an offer, should be clearly indicated. Practices used to lure consumers in with attractive officers with no or very limited availability is illegal.
• Fair Contract Terms: General Contract Terms must be clearly indicated, easily accessible and fair. Unfair practices include mandatory insurance attached to an offer, some countries prohibit situations where consumers have to explicitly opt-out of an insurance clause, rather than opt-in. Contract terms and conditions must be available in the language of the consumer.

The result of an EU enforcement investigation with 15 EU national authorities and Norway 115 airlines websites out of the 137 websites investigated have been corrected. Following an additional “health check” process (involving independent “Mystery Shopping” in March 2008) on 67 major 52 airlines have either been given a “clean bill of health” after the health check process against a 14 point checklist previously agreed with the airline industry.

EU Consumer Commissioner, Meglena Kuneva said: “This Europe-wide airline investigation is changing the face of airline websites across the EU. There is no room for complacency; there is more work to be done. But this first pan European enforcement investigation has shown it has real “teeth “and can deliver. The next step is an industry wide agreement, and we will continue to monitor developments in the sector closely.

Vice President Antonio Tajani, in charge of Transport said, “Applying full price transparency is an obligation under the air services regulation. It is a duty for airlines to impose high standards across the industry; it is our responsibility to ensure that all players respect the same rules. This is of first and foremost importance for the consumer who wants to compare prices across airlines and make a real choice.”

The investigation process, aimed to comprehensively monitor the overall situation in the area of online air ticket sales taking into consideration also the entry into force of two new pieces of EU legislation enhancing consumer protection since the first sweep checks in September 2007 (Directive on Unfair Commercial Practices, Air Services Regulation).

Airlines meeting all the standards of the  Airline Ticket Selling Sweep Investigation and giving a commitment to maintain their web pages at this level are:

Air Malta, Blue1, bmi, bmibaby, Estonian Air, Finnair, Iberia, Malmö Aviation, SAS, Sata Air Açores, Sata International, Spanair, TAP, Tarom, TUIfly, Virgin Atlantic.

Airlines committing to adapt their websites to fully meet all standards.

Adria Airways, Aegean Airlines, Aer Arann, Aer Lingus, Air Berlin, Air Europa, Air One, Alitalia, Austrian Airlines, Binter Canarias, Blue Air,Brussels Airlines, Bulgaria Air, Carpatair, Cimber Sterling, Condor, Cyprus Airways, Cyprus Turkish Airlines, Czech Airlines, Delta Air Lines, EasyJet, Finncomm Airlines, Flybe, LOT, Lufthansa, Luxair, Malév Hungarian Airlines, Meridiana Air, Norwegian Air Shuttle, Pegasus Airlines, Ryanair, Skyways, Swiss, transavia.com, VLM Airlines, Wizz Air.

And here is the Check List for website’s compliance with Consumer Rights Legislation in the Airline Sector

Source: http://europa.eu/rapid/pressReleasesAction.do?reference=IP/09/783&type=HTML&aged=0&language=EN&guiLanguage=en