Flights Direct

A leading travel agency has raised serious concerns over the e-ticketing deadline of June 1st imposed by the International Air Transport Association.

Not all airline carriers will be ready for 100% e-ticketing, and many will have some issues remaining.

Flight Center Limited listed several issues it fears will affect passengers after June 1st:

• Customers travelling with infants, as most carriers would not allow infants to travel on e-tickets
• Some codeshare and interline fares involving more than one carrier
• Some round-the-world fares
• Some international carriers not having e-ticket functionality by June 1
• Carriers being unable to provide e-tickets on some routes, including flights to parts of India, China, Vietnam, Africa and South America
• Airlines’ inability to offer ticketing services outside normal work hours

The agency fully supports moving to 100% e-ticketing but fears it’s coming too soon. The concerns have also been addressed to the International Air Transport Association.

“Significant progress has been made but, at the same time, significant issues have not been resolved.

“For example, with the deadline rapidly approaching, it is still unclear exactly which international locations do not have the systems in place to accept e-tickets,” says

Over a third of airline and travel-agency websites have been faulted for placing misleading flight prices on their websites and adverts, by a European Union investigation.

The EU has warned it will take action against companies that continue to break the rules. The on-going investigation to airline pricing already sited some companies for misleading pricing and some of the companies have changed their practices.

“Although we welcome the commission’s efforts in this area we can’t help but notice that half the Web sites which were criticized in the first study some months ago continue to get away with misleading consumers,” said the European Consumers’ Organisation in a statement.

The main problem with displayed prices is that they do not include taxes and extra fees. Other problems include inaccurate contract terms, automatic selections of optional services and advertised offers not being available.