Flights could surge by £80 in King's Speech plan to ban 'drip pricing'
A new law could add £80 to the upfront cost of plane tickets.
Yesterday King Charles III announced his Government's plans to crack-down on 'drip-pricing' following a six week consultation into the practice. When it comes to aviation, right now budget airlines can advertise the cheapest possible price of their tickets upfront, before the customers discovers there are additional, added on fees.
These can include the cost of hold luggage, choosing seats and even for printing boarding passes. Airline Ryanair is a big proponent of the latter, charging customers £55 each if they try to check-in in person rather than online.
Under new plans being tabled by the Government, companies would be forced to be more upfront about the cost to travel. They may have to show different price points for available tickets, including a budget, thrill-free fare, up to a package including all of the additional extras.
Revenue from add-ons for baggage, allocated seats and priority boarding rose 14% to £2.1billion in the half year, Travel Weekly reports. Passengers typically paying £20 each for these extras. The Government's Digital Markets, Competition and Consumers Bill will propose new powers to tackle drip pricing. Details of how the method will be tackled will become clear in the coming weeks.
Abandoned UK airport plans relaunch with budget flights to Spain and Cyprus
The law change could see the way that tickets are priced radically altered (Getty Images)One source told the Telegraph: “The fees themselves wouldn’t be banned, but they couldn’t be ‘dripped in’ as you purchase your journey - to avoid people ending up paying more than they had intended.”
A spokesperson for Airlines UK told The Times: "Unbundling products and offering greater choice that consumers demand is an important way that airlines compete and is well understood to have enabled air travel to become accessible for all."
While customers are not required to fork out more for most of the extras, passengers who do could end up spending four or five times more than their initial ticket price. A Government report on drip pricing found the average price to pay to check in luggage was £65, while the typical cost of reserving seats online was £15.
Other extra fares include airport fast track, which costs an average of £28 extra for each passenger. These prices are significantly more than the cheapest airline tickets, which can be as low £12.99 with Wizz Air or £15.99 with Ryanair and easyJet.
One airline executive has argued that such pricing structures do not count as drip-pricing as defined in other parts of the economy.
They told The Times: "These are not examples of drip pricing in the way the government imagines. We believe that drip pricing is booking a cinema ticket and then finding out it’s an extra 10 per cent in booking or service charges - that is not the case here. You can book one of our flights and get on it, have a safe journey and arrive for exactly the fee we quote - it will just be a small cabin bag and random seat selection."
Although the exact nature of the law change is now yet clear, regulators may be able to stop airlines like Ryanair levying large fees on customers. This week Unzela Khan wrote about how she ended up having to pay £220 to check-in at Luton Airport, based on each of her party being charged £55 each, when she tried to check-in in person.
Read more similar news:
Comments:
comments powered by Disqus
