EUobserver.com

EUOBSERVER / BRUSSELS – The European Commission on Thursday (8 May) said EU consumers are still getting ripped off when they buy airplane tickets online and threatened the industry with "further measures" if the situation does not change within one year.

"It is unacceptable that one in three consumers going to book a plane ticket online is being ripped off or mislead and confused," said consumer commissioner Meglena Kuneva when presenting the findings in Brussels.

According to the commission, there are still "serious and persistent consumer problems" in the online sale of tickets.

The main issues identified were misleading prices – found on 58 percent of the checked websites, and unfair contract terms such as missing or wrong language versions, or pre-checked boxes for optional services – found on 49 percent of the sites.

"We will need to see credible evidence of improvement to clean up these sales and marketing practices within the airline sector by 1 May next year or we will be left with no choice but to intervene," namely by starting infringement procedures, Ms Kuneva said.

Altogether, the commission has found breaches in 137 out of 386 websites checked last September in 13 EU states.

Those websites represent 80 airline companies, both "larger brand" names and less known ones, but Brussels could not name them, due to legal restraints in most EU member states that do not permit publishing the names of companies under investigation.

Only Sweden and non-EU member Norway have provided lists of companies - including Europe's largest low-cost carrier Ryanair, Finland's Blue 1 and Austrian Airlines - where irregularities have been found.

The European consumers' organisation BEUC welcomed the commission's efforts, but said the names of all of the investigated companies in all member states should be made known.

"What is really missing now for European consumers is the names of the companies which are not playing by the rules. It is only armed with this information that consumers will be able to fully play their role in the market by turning their backs on these websites," BEUC said in a statement.

For her part, commissioner Kuneva said she was also "very 'pro' having this information in the public domain," but stressed this was up to member states.

Airline websites still ripping off consumers, Brussels says