Customers continue to be slugged with additional costs when booking airfares. Picture: Supplied
AIRLINES should be advertising more transparent fare costs that include baggage, seat allocation and booking charges, experts say.
Low-cost carriers have been criticised for promoting budget domestic fares — some as low as $1 — without including multiple add-on’s that apply to many customers, Consumer Action Law Centre chief Gerard Brody said.
Consumer Action Law Centre’s chief Gerard Brody said more transparent advertising of airfare prices needed to be enforced. Picture: SuppliedSource:Supplied
“They feel misled, they thought they were getting one price but it’s actually costing them more,’’ Mr Brody said.
“Single pricing law needs to be strengthened to show the single price that a majority of customers do pay.
“At the moment you have an extra fee to choose your seat, an extra fee to choose your luggage and an extra fee for which payment method you use.”
Under Australian Consumer Law single pricing by companies is the minimum total cost that must be advertised but Mr Brody said airlines got around this by deeming extra charges — many of which customers need — as “additional add-ons.”
Consumer group Choice’s spokesman Tom Godfrey said super cheap fare deals were being used to “try and suck you in with a cheap flight before adding on additional fees and charges.”
TigerAir charges $25 for an “extra legroom” seat, $12 for an “upfront seat” or $6 to choose a “standard seat.”
TigerAir charges customers an $8.50 per person per flight booking if customers do not pay using a Mastercard debit card. Picture: SuppliedSource:Supplied
Low-cost competitor Jetstar preselects extras for it customers, including seat selection, charity donation and travel insurance.
Excessive booking and service charges also remains a common frustration by passengers who continue to charge customers just for making a fare reservation, but Mr Brody said the airlines “know their time is up” with getting away with these high charges.
But a TigerAir spokesman defended their charges including booking costs of up to $8.50 per flight, per person, noting that customers with a Mastercard debit card were exempt.
But News Corp Australia has learned only one in four Visa and Mastercard customers actually have this type of card.
“Our booking and service fee is clearly outlined throughout the booking process to provide full transparency to our customers,’’ he said.
“Tigerair Australia provides seats for the lowest fare possible, enabling our customers to choose what, if any, optional extras they wish to pay for.’’
A Jetstar spokesman said the carrier gives customers choice “to add the optional extras they want, it helps keep our fares as low as possible.”
TigerAir customer Jaie Courtney, 35, booked two return flights to Adelaide this month and outraged by the cost of paying $34 in booking charges he figured out a way to avoid the fee sting.
“I got a debit loadable Mastercard online and it was a $5 one-off charge to use it,’’ he said.
“The charge annoyed me but I’ve seen a way around it.”
The Australian Competition and Consumer Commission is working closely with the Reserve Bank of Australia on the standards that will implement legislative restrictions around excessive surcharging.
sophie.elsworth@news.com.au
0 nhận xét:
Đăng nhận xét