Teletext has introduced a three-strikes-and-you’re-out policy to clamp down on advertisers that fail to include compulsory charges in prices.
Tour operators and travel agents will be banned from advertising on the service for a minimum 24 hours if they fail to include non-optional extras in prices the third time they are checked by the company.
Charges that should be in the main price include ticket-on-departure charges and booking fees.
Teletext’s compliance team, which already carries out random checks on prices on its sites and on TV, will also notify trade bodies where advertisers are adding charges to the headline price.
Until now Teletext has excluded advertisers for a minimum of two hours for price increases and sold out offers and a minimum of four hours for extra compulsory charges.
The clampdown follows last week’s announcement by the Office of Fair Trading that it has successfully taken action against 13 airlines that did not include all fixed non-optional costs such as taxes in headline prices.
Teletext managing director Matthew Cheevers said: “Our policy is to penalise advertisers that do not adhere to the guidelines. Ultimately the price the customer sees on the service is the price they should pay for their holiday.”