ABTA will support calls for greater price transparency after a Trading Standards investigation found prices advertised online bear little resemblance to the actual price the customer pays.
The Trading Standards Institute has claimed there is a “misleading and illegal cocktail of confusion” with online retailers using the word ‘from’ when advertising a price disguising the fact that, once unavoidable surcharges and supplements are added, the cost can be at least three times as much.
ABTA chief executive Mark Tanzer said the association’s code of conduct requires members online package holiday prices to be inclusive of everything that can be foreseen.
Pointing the finger of blame at airlines, ABTA said it has campaigned for clearer pricing for some time and was disappointed Ryanair was found not guilty in Chelmsford Crown Court last year of offering misleading prices on its website because it states the quoted prices do not include extra charges.
“ABTA has made a strong stand on this and we feel that it is now time for the whole industry to be better regulated. We support the call for the Office of Fair Trading to take action to ensure that all online prices are fair and truly represent what customers have to pay,” Tanzer said.
TSI’s lead officer Bruce Treloar said: “Shops that advertised goods for sale at a particular price and then tried to charge a higher price at the till by telling customers they had to pay towards the shop’s lighting and heating costs would be rightly criticised.
“Yet parts of the travel industry are allowed to advertise holidays abroad to consumers at one price and then add on compulsory extra charges to cover the cost of the fuel to fly you there, for the use of the airport and even for printing out the tickets.”