Airlines will no longer be able to add pre-ticked boxes selling extras like insurance under new legislation approved by the European Union.
EU ministers meeting in Luxembourg have passed a set of rules aimed at strengthening consumer rights, which the EU parliament backed in June.
Online traders will have to disclose the total cost of a product – including fees – and customers will have to actively opt-in to extras.
Consumers will be exempt from costs if they were not 'properly informed' before purchase and will now have a 14 day ‘cooling off’ period.
Travel firms, which will not be allowed to make a profit from the charge levied on customers for using a credit card and will only be allowed to charge customers basic call rates, have two years to implement the rules.
By Diane Evans
