Rules tightened for European air ticket websites

EU authorities have tightened restrictions on websites that allow consumers to book air tickets.

Travel Insurance News - 13/10/2011

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The move, which was approved on Tuesday in Luxembourg, will make it illegal for airline ticket booking websites to require consumers to un-tick boxes for add-ons and related services including car rentals and travel insurance.

The changes, dubbed the Consumer Rights Directive, were welcomed with open arms by consumer watchdogs whilst EU officials said the initiative would help to solidify consumer protection for online shopping.

Online retail firms will also have to display the total costs of products up front and the figure must include any extra fees. Shoppers will be exempt from any additional costs not displayed in such a fashion and extra services will be available by opt-in functions only.

Which? consumer group’s executive director Richard Lloyd said that it was ‘about time’ officials moved to ban ‘selling by stealth’. He said that consumers’ budgets were already under stress and if services and products are good enough, people will take action to purchase them.

Similarly, the chairman of the European Parliament consumer protection committee, conservative MEP Malcolm Harbour, said that the rules needed to be ratified because the current regulations predated the digital era.

EU countries have two years to put the new regulations into effect.

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