ABTA has denied that consumers are in any danger of being mislead by the travel industry on price.
Speaking in response to the news that the Office of Fair Trading (OFT) has launched two studies into advertising and pricing across all industries, the association’s head of legal and members services Simon Bunce said that although there had been a problem around airlines and price transparency in the past, this had been largely resolved by joint action taken by ABTA and the OFT in 2007.
“Because tour operators and travel agents had started competing directly with the airlines they were having to follow the same practice.
“The OFT sorted out the airlines and ABTA used the code of conduct to deal with its members so the problem was largely solved.
“I am not aware of [misleading pricing] causing a particular problem at the moment.”
Bunce went on to say some consumers may have concerns about the increasing tendency of airlines to charge for optional extras such as baggage handling and seat reservations. “That is a different issue to misleading prices,” he added.
Yesterday a number of national media reports identified travel as one of the industries likely to be probed by the OFT. But, according to a spokesman for the watchdog, it will not be singling out any one sector. He also stressed the studies were not investigations.
Possible outcomes of the studies, which are due to be completed in the spring and summer of 2010, include giving the market a clean bill of health; publishing information to help consumers; encouraging firms to take voluntary action; and making a market investigation reference to the Competition Commission.
In July, Ryanair finally agreed to increase the clarity and transparency of its fares on its website after a two-year campaign by the OFT.