EU forces airlines to improve websites

by Andrew McCormick, revolutionmagazine.com 14-May-09, 11:31

LONDON - The European Union has forced airlines to improve their websites to make the experience clearer and better for travellers.

Airlines across Europe have signed up to make their websites easier for customers to understand and to improve the booking process to benefit travellers.

The agreement means that airiines including EasyJet and Ryanair now have to meet a 14-point checlist devised by the EU to create a common standard for airline customers.

The EU was responding to what it saw as misleading offers and hidden charges. Practices criciticised include automatically leaving boxes for addiitional fares ticked so that it would be added to a the price tag without the customer being aware.

Airlines were also told off for advertising a lower price than it actually costs to fly with the airline and were told not to tag on additional costs at the end of the booking process.

EU research had previously found that a third of airline websites were misleading or cheating consumers. In Europe 16 airlines met the EU standards set last year, when a review was carried out in March 2009. Bmi, Bmibaby and Virgin Atlantic were among the top performers.