ABTA is calling for help from its members to put together a case to the Office of Fair Trading against airlines which have separated the Passenger Service Charge from their fares.
Head of legal affairs Riccardo Nardi said ABTA needs evidence of situations where customers booked air tickets before the changes came into play but are settling their balance afterwards.
“We need examples of clients who have booked, say last September or October and are due to settle their balance now or later this year. There is the potential for clients having to pay an increased air fare, and if the air fare has gone up because of PSC, the client will be paying the PSC twice,” he said.
“This means that our members could unwittingly be put in the position of breaking misleading price legislation and it will be the airlines’ fault.”
This concern will form one strand of ABTA’s argument against the separation of PSC which it is putting to the OFT and various trading standards bodies.
ABTA is also fighting the move on the basis that customers are being misled into thinking that PSC is a tax because it is displayed as a tax on an airline ticket.
“The airline ticket is a direct contract between the airline and the consumer. PSC is being shown in the tax box but it isn’t a tax. I have a fundamental objection to that and I think people should complain about it,” said Nardi.
ABTA has already held preliminary discussions with the OFT and is now preparing its formal complaint. It is also planning to make a case on competition grounds to the OFT and to the European Commission but Nardi said it was not ready to disclose details of this action.
Agents which can help ABTA’s case in any way should telephone its legal department or preferably fax written evidence to Nardi on 0171-631 4623.