Airline says it shouldn’t have to include advertising information about discretionary additional fees

Budget airline Ryanair has been reported to the police by the consumer ombudsman for failing to include information about handling fees in an advertisement.

The airline ran an advert during May last year in Jyllands-Posten newspaper advertising low cost fares from just 79 kroner each way.

However, the consumer ombudsman Henrik Øe took exception to the absence of information about additional charges that substantially increased the fare.

Ryanair adds an additional handling fee of 40 kroner per passenger to the fare if any credit card other than a Visa Electron is used as payment.

Øe said he had reported Ryanair to the police after more than eight months of communication between the airline and his office as he felt the airline was guilty of ‘misleading marketing practices’.

‘When the price of a product or service presupposes payment with a specific, particular payment card, it must appear in the marketing communication. The fee for the use of other payment cards, including the more common Visa/Dankort, must also be announced so the offer becomes transparent to the consumer,’ he said.

The Danish debit card Dankort is one of the most popular payment methods in the country and there are more than 3.1 million holders of the Visa/Dankort debit card.

According to figures from electronic payment service PBS there are less than 800,000 Danes who currently own a Visa Electron card. Those who do not own a Visa Electron card would not qualify for the handling charge exemption with Ryanair.

The airline responded to the charge by saying the Danish consumer ombudsman has been guilty of repeated bias against Ryanair and filed a formal complaint with the European Commission.

A statement from the airline described Øe’s actions as an ‘unlawful campaign’ and said it would mislead customers if Ryanair advertised a higher price that included ‘optional/discretionary fees which can be avoided by passengers during the booking process’.

In correspondence between Ryanair and the office of the ombudsman seen by The Copenhagen Post, the airline claims that 30 percent of their customers use Visa Electron as a method of payment.

The ombudsman took the view that this practice violated the Danish Marketing Practices Act ‘as the advertisement is suited to mislead the 70 percent of the consumers who use another means of payment’.

Police are now investigating the case, and if it goes to court Ryanair could face a fine.