EU bans airlines from adding fuel charges after ticket purchase
"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"
ATT Desk Report
Airlines must not charge customers additional fuel fees after tickets have already been purchased, the EU warned on Friday, as the aviation sector faces mounting pressure from high energy prices linked to 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, reports French news agency AFP.
She added that any post-booking changes could “raise issues under the EU’s unfair commercial practices” rules.
In a document published on Friday on the energy crisis affecting the aviation sector, the EU stated that “any retroactive change of the price is excluded”.
“Airlines may not include terms and conditions that 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 applies to package holidays, if the seller has clearly stated in the contract that fuel-related price changes may occur.
In such cases, an increase of up to 8 per cent is permitted. If the increase exceeds that level, customers have the right either to accept the new price or cancel their booking.
Spanish low-cost carrier Volotea has faced criticism in France, where it is under investigation after demanding fuel surcharges from customers following the energy shock caused by the war.
Gilles Gosselin, the airline’s France director, 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, temporary, and works both ways, up and down,” Gosselin told AFP.
