Online flight bookings systems must give final price during process

BRUSSELS has ruled that electronic online flight booking systems must state the final price from the beginning of the purchase process for all flights leaving European Union (EU) airports.

A sentence by the Courts of Justice of the EU referred to a case presented by the German Federal union of consumer associations at German courts against the way air tariffs were presented by Air Berlin’s electronic reservations system in November 2008.

After selecting the date and airports, the system presented a list of possibilities but did not show the final price per passenger for all available options.

The federal union considered that this practice did not meet European regulations regarding flight price transparency.

Air Berlin appealed a sentence by a German court finding it guilty and the case was taken to the EU Tribunal for consideration.

The European judges agreed with the German court’s ruling and declared that final prices must be shown at every step of electronic reservation systems.