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Consumer groups take up fight against unfair ‘no-show’ clause in airline tickets

Published on 07.12.2018

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PRESS STATEMENT - 10.12.2018

Today several consumer groups are taking action against the use of ‘no-show’ clauses in airline tickets [1]. This clause prevents passengers from using the return leg of an airline ticket, or the remainder of an itinerary, if they didn’t use the first leg, for whatever reason.

 

In those cases, airlines which use the clause refuse boarding to the passenger and either require the passenger buys a new ticket, or pays a fine to be able to use his original ticket. The clause is used in different versions by a multitude of airlines in the EU.

Monique Goyens, Director General of The European Consumer Organisation (BEUC), said: “The ‘no-show’ clause is downright unfair. The passenger has paid for the tickets and expects to be able to use them. You might have missed your outbound flight, or found a more convenient way to get to point B, there is no excuse for airlines to cancel the remainder of your ticket.

“What makes this particularly unfair is that this obscure clause is stuffed into the terms and conditions. When passengers get to the airport to use the remainder of their journey, they are usually shocked to find out they can’t and have to fork out hundreds of euros for a new ticket or pay a hefty fee. This unfair practice must be stopped and that is why consumer groups are taking action today.”

Given this situation, national consumer associations, members of the BEUC network, are taking action to force the airlines to stop using the clause. BEUC is also sending a letter to the public authorities responsible for consumer protection at national level (CPC network) to urge them to open an investigation into the no-show clause.

This practice should be banned at EU level. An EU reform of air passenger rights has been blocked for five years now and the gridlock is unlikely to end soon. BEUC today is also writing to the European Commission to ask it to take initiative to ban the clause.

ENDS

  • A Questions & Answers document is available here.
  • Examples of consumers affected by a no-show clause are available here.

[1] Today, Dutch consumer group Consumentenbond and Greek consumer group EKPIZO are announcing legal actions against the Dutch airline KLM. UK consumer group Which? is sending pre-action letters to ask Air France, KLM, Swiss, Qatar, Emirates, BA, Virgin Atlantic, Flybe and Singapore Airlines to stop using the clause. Two airlines active in the UK (Thomas Cook and Aurigny) have already claimed they will stop using the no-show clause following Which? action. Maltese consumer group CA Malta and Greek consumer group KEPKA are also writing to airlines to ask them to stop using the clause. Finally, KEPKA, CA Malta, Czech consumer group dTest, Swiss consumer association FRC and Danish consumer organisation Forbrugerrådet Tænk are going to complain to their national authorities about the use of the clause.

Belgian consumer group Test Achats/Test Aankoop is already in court against Air France and KLM since July 2018 for their use of the no-show clause. Austrian consumer organisation VKI, German consumer organisation vzbv and Spanish consumer organisation OCU have already won court cases against different airlines in the past (e.g. Austrian, Lufthansa, Iberia and British Airways).

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