Twelve airlines, including Easyjet, Flybe, Ryanair and Lufthansa, have agreed to include any charges for using debit cards within their headline prices, following recommendations from the Office of Fair Trading (OFT).
The move does not mean debit card fees are being scrapped completely (although Monarch Airlines did do so last year and Flybe followed suit in March), but these charges will soon have to be displayed as part of the headline price of a flight.
The OFT said that several airlines, including Eastern Airways, Easyjet, Flybe, Germanwings, Lufthansa, Thomas Cook, Thomson and Wizzair, have already made changes to their pricing structures, websites and marketing materials. Other carriers will change their advertising policies by August 1, with further changes to be completed “over the coming months”.
The competition watchdog said that the move would make it easier for customers to “shop around for the best deal” because the headline price would be more transparent.
Carriers will still be able to impose credit card surcharges, but the OFT said that these must be “transparent and not sprung on shoppers towards the end of the booking process”.
The OFT added: “Debit cards are the online equivalent of cash which means that headline prices should be the price people can pay.”
Earlier this year Easyjet revamped its booking charges, introducing a new flat rate £9 “admin fee” included in the final fare advertised on the first stage of the booking process.
Ryanair also now charges a £6 per person per flight admin fee, which is only avoidable if customers purchase tickets using the carrier’s Ryanair Cash Passport Mastercard prepaid card.
The full list of airlines which have agreed to the changes is: Aer Lingus, Bmibaby, Eastern Airways, Easyjet, Flybe, Germanwings, Jet2, Lufthansa, Ryanair, Thomas Cook, Thomson (TUI) and Wizzair
oft.gov.uk