Brussels (Belgium) (AFP) – Airlines must not charge customers extra fuel fees after they have already bought tickets, the EU warned on Friday, as the aviation sector feels the pain from high energy prices because of the Middle East war. “Airlines may adapt their published fares to the situation, but adding a fuel surcharge to a ticket after it has been bought cannot be justified,” EU spokeswoman Anna-Kaisa Itkonen told reporters in Brussels.
Any changes post-booking can “raise issues under the EU’s unfair commercial practices,” she added. In a document published on Friday on the energy crisis affecting the aviation sector, the EU said “any retroactive change of the price is excluded.” “Airlines may not include terms and conditions which would allow them to increase the price of the ticket above what is advertised at the time of purchase simply because fuel was more expensive than they had accounted for,” the European Commission said.
The only exception is for package holidays if the seller has made it clear in the contract there could be a possibility of fuel-related changes to the costs. In such cases, an increase of up to eight percent is allowed, but if it is higher, the customer can accept or they have the right to cancel their booking.
Spanish low-cost carrier Volotea has been criticised in France where it is under investigation after demanding fuel surcharges from customers because of the energy shock from the war. Gilles Gosselin, the airline’s France director, has defended the measure. “The legality of our system has been confirmed by three independent law firms specialising in air transport and consumer law. The measure is transparent, it is temporary, and it works both ways,” up and down, Gosselin told AFP in France.
© 2024 AFP
