AUC: More transparent air fares needed

New research has been conducted into the way airlines advertise their charges and fees as a follow-up to a report published two years ago - and has concluded that more work still needs to be done.

The original 2005 study by watchdog the Air Transport Users Council (AUC) found that a number of airlines were failing to adequately advertise the full cost of flights, including all taxes, fees and charges (TFCs), resulting in passengers finding it hard to easily compare complete fares.

It also discovered that less than half of travellers who booked air tickets through airlines' websites knew that one route could carry different pricing structures, with a similar figure actually understanding what all the different charges include.

The AUC's new follow-up report has now revealed that while many airlines have made efforts to make their pricing more transparent - such as British Airways, Virgin and bmi - there is still a significant number of carriers, particularly low-cost or no-frills airlines, which publish fares and TFCs separately.

AUC chairman Tina Tietjen warned that passengers may still be unaware of the full extent of TFCs in addition to the standard fares, resulting in fewer travellers looking at other airlines' pricing.

"In addition, passengers now have a further problem in that they must compare prices between those airlines that include TFCs in their prices and those that don't. The only solution is for all airlines to switch to all-inclusive pricing on their websites," she stated.

Commenting on the findings, Simon Goddard, technical director for Just The Flight, said: "Just The Flight always shows the customer the complete price they will pay for scheduled flights. This includes all taxes, fees and charges."

He added: "We also go one step further by not charging credit card fees, which can often add a considerable amount to the originally advertised price on other websites."

According to the AUC, credit and debit card fees can vary between carriers, as some are set as a percentage of the transaction, while others are assigned per passenger or per flight.

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