Failure to provide consumers with complete and reliable information relating to the ticket price, use of misleading advertising and unlawful terms in contracts are the most common infringements of consumer rights by airlines. Office of Competition and Consumer Protection carried out controls of 16 airline carriers with the greatest market share in Poland. The majority of them declared willingness to change the practices in question

UOKiK carries out permanent monitoring of entrepreneurs from different industries with respect to their use of abusive clauses. This time, apart from the examination of contract forms offered to clients by the largest airline carriers, also the regularity of presenting flight prices, the ways of ticket booking and purchase as well as the lodging of complaints were analysed

The main factor taken into account by consumers when purchasing a ticket is the price. Provision of the price in an unreliable manner is unacceptable. UOKiK questioned presenting of the flight ticket prices on websites and in advertisements. In the opinion of the Office, the carrier’s actions are misleading as regards the actual prices. One example is the advertisement inviting to buy “tickets to Italy, Germany and to British Isles for PLN 1”, while in fact the flight price is several times higher and consumers learn about the actual amount no sooner than at the moment of purchase. Different fees, such as “permanent passenger fee”, are added to the basic ticket price offered by the carriers, regardless of the flight itinerary. Moreover, additional fees are charged, e.g. fuel charge, for the possibility of paying with a credit card. Certain carriers also automatically add on optional insurance costs. In the opinion of UOKiK, this is a serious infringement of economic interest of consumers.

Lack of relevant information in Polish on airline websites is common, e.g. concerning terms and conditions of passengers and luggage transportation. However, pursuant to the Polish law, the entrepreneur is obliged to present the carriage rules in Polish to passengers at the conclusion of the contract. UOKiK is of the opinion that the practice used by airlines limits consumer rights resulting from the legislation in force.

UOKiK control also revealed that certain carriers require that consumers lodge complaints only in English. Such practice, contradictory to Polish law, exposes passengers to risk of costs related to the necessity of professional assistance. The control revealed that certain websites lack contact data of the carrier. Therefore the consumers’ possibility to contact the carrier is hampered.

UOKiK also analysed contract forms used by the carriers that lay down terms and conditions for passenger and luggage transportation. Most of them contained abusive clauses that presented consumer rights and obligations in a manner contradictory to legislation in force or to good practice, which was a blatant infringement of consumer interest.

UOKiK questioned provisions that limited carrier’s responsibility for the failure to perform or improper performance of contract. Construction of certain contract forms analysed by the Office allowed for a substantial limitation of this liability or for its complete exclusion. An example of an abusive clause may be the following: “The carrier shall not be liable for any loss, damage or other costs resulting in connection with the receipt of luggage by a non-authorised person”. Moreover, a practice was revealed that involved inclusion of contract provisions excluding or substantially limiting carrier’s liability for personal injury, which is contradictory to Civil Code which provides for full redress.

It is also the opinion of UOKiK that provisions empowering the carriers to make unilateral amendments to the contract are unacceptable. In practice this means that in the case of changes in tax rates or to other mandatory fees during the trip, the difference is always borne by the passengers.

Moreover, the control revealed that carriers used provisions which, in the opinion of the Office, result in the excessively privileged position of entrepreneurs as compared to consumers. A common practice is introduction of unclear and ambiguous clauses to the content of the contract form which hampers the correct interpretation of the provisions by the consumers and allows for the freedom of interpretation and abuse of contract provisions. An example of abusive clause is as follows: “Should, in accordance with terms and conditions of the Tariff applied to the Ticket, the Passenger have the right to full return, the amount of returned payments shall be equal to the full amount of payment resulting from a relevant table”.

Pursuant to the Civil Code, provisions that have not been agreed upon with the consumers on an individual basis shall not be deemed binding if they define their rights and obligations in a manner contradictory to the legislation in force or to good practice, constituting a blatant infringement of interest of the weaker market participants. Clauses that are judged abusive by the court shall be put into the register maintained by UOKiK. From this moment the use of such clauses in legal transactions with consumers shall be prohibited. At present, the register contains nearly 900 abusive clauses.

The Office took actions to eliminate the abovementioned practices. All controlled carriers received notices requesting to abandon those practices. The majority of the carriers has declared their willingness to cooperate and voluntarily introduces changes in order to eliminate the irregularities found by UOKiK. Up to this day, nine investigations have been initiated. Control results shall constitute a basis for the report on the consumer protection in Poland with respect to airline carriers. The present UOKiK inquiry is the first one of a number of measures to be taken against different entities in order to eliminate irregularities in the airline sector.

The control covered the following carriers having a seat or a branch in Poland:
AIR FRANCE, ALITALIA, AUSTRIAN AIRLINES, BRITISH AIRWAYS, DEUTSCHE LUFTHANSA, KRÓLEWSKIE LINIE LOTNICZE, CENTRALWINGS, POLSKIE LINIE LOTNICZE LOT, SCANDINAVIAN AIRLINES SYSTEM (SAS), SKYEUROPE AIRLINES, WIZZ AIR.

In addition, an analysis of airline carriers without the seat on the territory of Poland that have an important share in the passenger carriage market was carried out, covering the following enterprises:
AER LINGUS LIMITED (Ireland), EASYJET (United Kingdom), GERMANWINGS (Germany), NORWEGIAN AIR SHUTTLE ASA (Norway), RYANAIR (Ireland).

Additional information:
Elżbieta Anders, Spokesperson of UOKiK
Pl. Powstańców Warszawy 1, 00-950 Warszawa
Tel. 22 827 28 92, 55 60 106, 55 60 314
faks 22 826 11 86

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