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Watchdog slams online travel giants
Travel giants have bowed to pressure over hidden charges following a report by the BBC’s Watchdog programme.
In last night’s programme, online travel agents and airlines were criticised for slipping things into customers baskets without them noticing.
Lastminute, Expedia and Opodo all came under fire for automatically adding insurance into their packages, leaving the customer with the responsibility of ‘de-selecting’ it.
Meanwhile, Thomson and Flybe were criticised for doing the same with baggage.
In the report, Martin Lewis from www.moneysavingexpert.com told viewers how the European Union now has rules in place to prevent companies engaging in this practice.
He said UK companies were expected to be brought under these EU rules later this year, but were being urged by the CAA to adopt the same policies now.
Later in the programme, he said that since making his report, Expedia and Thomson had agreed to change their policies.
“But there are other companies still doing it,†he told BBC viewers.
“By opting you in, unless you check the terms, they’ll be jacking up your price. If you don’t make sure to de-select your extras at this stage, you could end up paying more. It can happen to anyone and it’s not acceptable. It’s against EU law.â€
Lastminute and Opodo said they were concerned about the number of customers who travel uninsured and argued that they give customers plenty of opportunity to de-select it.
Flybe said it complies with all EU Regulations in relation to its online booking transparency.
by Bev Fearis
Bev
Editor in chief Bev Fearis has been a travel journalist for 25 years. She started her career at Travel Weekly, where she became deputy news editor, before joining Business Traveller as deputy editor and launching the magazine’s website. She has also written travel features, news and expert comment for the Guardian, Observer, Times, Telegraph, Boundless and other consumer titles and was named one of the top 50 UK travel journalists by the Press Gazette.
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