Consumer Protection

On October 28th 2011, the European Consumer Centres Network (ECC-Net) launched the report “Air Passengers Rights Report 2011 – in the aftermath of the Volcanic Ash Crisis”. The report focuses on several aspects regarding air passengers’ rights in the EU today, in particular during 2010.

On Sep. 21, 2011, the Office of Fair Trade (OFT) has received a super-complaint from Consumer Focus about the cost of obtaining foreign currency and overseas use of credit and debit cards. Consumer Focus identified three features which it has called on the OFT to investigate:

The U.S. Department of Transportation has fined Virgin Atlantic USD 50,000 for deceptive online advertising. The DOT said that Virgin Atlantic displayed air fares, but without government taxes and fees. To see taxes and fees, consumers had to scroll down to the bottom of the page to read the fine print.

The plaintiff (a lawyer) initially had sued a tour operator for mal-performance of a package travel contract. The claim had been dismissed by all instances as courts had held that the plaintiff had booked accomodation in a Dubai city hotel with half board and a shuttle service to the beach - and had exactly got what he had booked. It had to be regarded obvious that a city hotel could not offer the same amenities with regard to duration and flexibility of staying at the beach like a hotel directly situated there.