§4.3.1 Cross-cutting issues

Unfair commercial practices may arise in the pre-booking, booking and post-booking stages of travel and transport services, such as misleading advertising and other manipulative practices, the lack of material information or providing misleading information, drip pricing practices, unfair contract terms, problems related to cancellations, insufficient assistance in case of delays or cancellations, as well as ineffective complaint handling systems. The UCPD applies not only to the trader who actually provides the travel and transport service but also to ‘ any other person acting in his name or on his behalf ’ (Article 2(b)). The provisions of the UCPD, in particular the information requirements laid down by Articles 6 and 7, are also applicable not only to airlines, hotels or car rental companies, but also to intermediaries – such as travel booking websites, comparison tools or metasearch websites – operating between them and consumers. For example: Both the airline and the online travel agent offering flight tickets to consumers (393) in the name of the airline or on its behalf should inform consumers whether luggage is included in the price for the flight or whether it is subject to an extra fee. Both should also inform passengers whether flights can be rebooked or refunded. Article 7(4) lists certain pieces of information to be regarded as material in invitations to purchase, for example, for a flight or train ticket, accommodation or a rental car, if the information is not already apparent from the context. Failing to provide this information could in some cases be regarded as a misleading omission. The types of information covered by this point include in particular: — the product’s main characteristics; — the trader’s identity; — the price inclusive of taxes; — the arrangements for payment; — the complaint handling policy. Invitations to purchase are further discussed in section 2.9.5. Article 7(4)(b) requires traders to provide their geographical address and identity. Under Article 7(5) in combination with Article 5(1)(c) of the e-Commerce Directive, the trader’s email address is also material information under the UCPD. This information should be easy to find (i.e. not in the general terms and conditions or on separate information pages/ links) and directly and permanently accessible. As regards complaint handling, under Article 7(4)(d) of the UCPD, it should be clear to the consumer whom to contact in case of queries or complaints. The consumer should be given clear instructions about how to complain in the event of a problem, for example through an email address and telephone number. For questions on the language of terms and conditions, please see section 2.9.3 on the provision of certain information in another language. Traders – including any intermediaries facilitating business to consumer transactions - should ensure that the price of tickets is transparent from the outset, already from the advertising stage as well as during the booking process. For questions on the discrimination regarding ticket prices, please see section under 4.2.8 on pricing practices. In particular, under Articles 6(1)(d) and 7(4)(c), the total price to be paid must at all times be indicated and include the applicable charges and taxes which are unavoidable and foreseeable at the time of publication/booking, including payment surcharges. For example, for air transport, as required by sector-specific legislation (394), the final price to be paid shall at all times be indicated and include the applicable air fare or air rate as well as all applicable taxes, charges, surcharges and fees which are unavoidable and foreseeable at the time of publication. Prices for flights or hotel rooms may change very rapidly. For example, when a consumer looks for a flight ticket on the platform of an online travel agent the price may change between the moment the consumer starts searching for a ticket and the moment they decide to make a purchase. If such price changes are truly due to the dynamic nature of the market and thus outside of the control of the online travel agent, they will have an impact on the online travel agent's possibilities to ensure that the price it advertises is at all times fully correct. The professional diligence obligation in Article 5(2) the UCPD suggests that traders that are aware of the possibility of sudden price changes have to make this clear to the consumers when advertising prices. For example: — A trader offering package holidays mentioned the price of an insurance policy in the total price of a product. However, the insurance policy was not mandatory but optional. A national authority found this to be misleading (395). — Charging tourists for supplementary fuel costs without indicating how this charge was calculated and without providing consumers with proper documentation was considered to be a misleading omission, a misleading action and an aggressive practice by a national authority (396). — A trader offering holiday flats omitted to indicate in the price mandatory costs such as cleaning costs, city taxes and additional service charges for booking. A national court found this practice to be in breach of professional diligence and a misleading omission (397). In the case where a trader offers additional (optional) services for purchase, the information on optional charges should be prominently displayed and distinguished from the main service; traders should not mislead consumers regarding the purchase of additional services. Optional costs may for instance be: the cost for a single room, non-compulsory insurance, choice of seat or checked luggage (as opposed to hand luggage) (398). Consumers should be informed about the existence of non-mandatory costs in invitations to purchase and in any case, at the latest, at the start of the booking process. It should also be made clear that these costs are optional, and consumers should not be misled regarding their decision to purchase additional services (399). These requirements follow in particular from Articles 6(1)(b) and (d) and 7(4)(a) and (c) UCPD. Practices that contravene these principles could also, depending on the circumstances be considered contrary to the requirements of professional diligence, cf. Article 5(2) UCPD. In addition to the rules of the UCPD, the CRD precludes the use of default options the consumer has to reject in order to avoid additional payments rather than requesting the consumer’s express consent to extra payments, such as in the case of pre-ticked boxes on websites. Article 22 of that Directive provides that ‘If a trader has not obtained the consumer’s express consent but has inferred it by using default options which the consumer is required to reject in order to avoid the additional payment, the consumer shall be entitled to reimbursement of this payment.’ Apart from cases of pre-ticked boxes there may be other cases where traders who market their services online offer additional services in an unclear or ambiguous manner, such as hiding the option of not booking any further services (see also section 4.2.7 on dark patterns). Such commercial practices may be considered as misleading, aggressive or incompatible with professional diligence. Since such practices have been observed in particular in the air transport sector and given the existence of additional rules in that sector, examples are given under section 4.3.4.

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Source: EUR-Lex (Cellar) · retrieved 2026-09-07