Transparent pricing, financial protection and security top MPs report

ABTA has welcomed a call by MPs for airlines to always advertise additional fees, taxes and charges up-front online and in print.

The association has been working with the Office of Fair Trading to ensure its members comply with the law to include all fixed, non-optional costs in the basic advertised price.

The House of Commons transport select committee’s report – Passengers’ Experiences of Air Travel – also recommends a mandatory arrangement for financial protection of air travellers.

The committee’s report said: “The Government should be in no doubt that we continue to support a mandatory arrangement for financial protection for air travellers, as envisaged by the CAA.

“We repeat the warning we gave in 2006: some scheduled airlines still appear to be at risk of collapse; existing consumer protection is patchy; and Government delay and procrastination will only increase the risk to which passengers are exposed.”

ABTA has been campaigning for many years that all passengers who book pre-arranged travel should have financial protection regardless as to whether they book a package or independent arrangements.

Additionally, the committee said that any heightened security requirements should be properly resourced to allow passengers to travel smoothly and quickly through airport terminals.

The association’s head of communications and policy David Marshall said: “Air travel is at the heart of the travel industry’s business and it is important for ABTA Members that they can reassure customers and build confidence in flying.

“This report has made a number of important recommendations and we hope the Government takes seriously.”

The transport committee report came as passenger watchdog the Air Transport Users’ Committee reported a 22% rise in complaints from passengers to more than 12,000. This included a three-fold rise in complaints abiout taxes, largely attributable to the doubling in Air Passenger Duty in February.

The transport committee was particularly critical of certain low cost carriers, Ryanair in particular, while British Airways came under fire for “disarray” over its revised baggage policy.

Discussing budget airlines, the committee’s report said: “Thise airlines with ‘ten pound’ flights and tenpenny managements do not exempt themselves from standards of service and behaviour to which the rest of the industry is subject merely by virtue of being ‘cheap’.

“We commend low cost airlines such as easyJet and Flybe that realise this and hope that they serve as an example to some of their competitors.”

The committee added that lost and mishandled baggage was one of the biggest areas of complaint for air passengers, and said: “It is absurd that there is no Europe-wide standard for collecting figures on lost and mishandled baggage.”

Rounding on BA, the report said; “It is one thing for airlines to use baggage size and amount as a means of differentiating their services from competitors, it is another to have such confusing plicies that passengers end up bearing the brunt in excess charges or having to dump baggage belongings at the airport.

“We await the implementation of the EU maximum baggage carry-on rules in May 2008. If it proves successful at reducing confusion for passengers, we recommend that the Government look at the benefits of proposing an extension to cover all baggage rules.”

*See easyJet pricing story

by Phil Davies