Jaunted

European Airlines Sometimes Tell Lies

11/15/2007 at 9:15 AM
Tags: Airlines, Low Cost Carriers, LCCs, Websites, RyanAir, Europe Travel, European Union (all tags)

We've noticed recently that many of the European budget airlines are being well behaved about truth in advertising, showing the full costs for flights including previously hidden taxes and charges. But apparently the European Commission doesn't see it this way, according to its recent weekend of website trawling.

Authorities studied 400 websites for European airlines and found that half of them broke EU law in some way--not including taxes and charges in the prices, advertising "free" flights that weren't really free or attaching compulsory insurance to a plane ticket.

Austrians can hold their heads high, as none of the 20 Austrian airline websites were found to be misleading; at the other end of the scale, the Belgians are probably embarrassed that 46 out of the 48 Belgian websites studied broke the rules.

But while budget airlines were under fire for these kinds of customer betrayals, RyanAir thinks that the big guys should be targeted too: for example, the EC should check all those fuel surcharges we have to pay on regular airlines like British Airways or KLM. Seems like one way or the other, everybody's trying to rip us off.

Related Stories:
· Airline Websites are Misleading [BBC]
· Bad Jokes Are Free At Wizz Air [Jaunted]
· Low Cost Carriers Coverage [Jaunted]

[Photo: itslefty]