1 / 19

Cheap flights no seats - misleading airline advertising cases

Cheap flights no seats - misleading airline advertising cases. Michael Wukoschitz Austria. Main Problems. „cheap flights“ - pricing „no seats“ - availability. Case Association to Counterfeit Unfair Competition v. Ryanair. Legal situation in Austria. Pricing Act („Preisauszeichnungsgesetz“)

haley-rowland
Download Presentation

Cheap flights no seats - misleading airline advertising cases

An Image/Link below is provided (as is) to download presentation Download Policy: Content on the Website is provided to you AS IS for your information and personal use and may not be sold / licensed / shared on other websites without getting consent from its author. Content is provided to you AS IS for your information and personal use only. Download presentation by click this link. While downloading, if for some reason you are not able to download a presentation, the publisher may have deleted the file from their server. During download, if you can't get a presentation, the file might be deleted by the publisher.

E N D

Presentation Transcript

  1. Cheap flights no seats - misleading airline advertising cases Michael Wukoschitz Austria

  2. Main Problems • „cheap flights“ - pricing • „no seats“ - availability

  3. CaseAssociation to Counterfeit Unfair Competition v. Ryanair

  4. Legal situation in Austria • Pricing Act („Preisauszeichnungsgesetz“) • Unfair Competition Act („Gesetz gegen den unlauteren Wettbewerb – UWG“)

  5. Pricing Act: • Sec. 1 Par. 1 Num. 3: „This Federal Act applies to ... pricing for air travel if offered by air carriers to consumers.“ • Sec. 9 Par. 1: „All pricing has to include VAT as well as all other taxes and surcharges“ • Sec. 13 Par. 1: „Sec. 9 to 12 also apply to voluntary pricing particulary in advertisements ...“

  6. Unfair Competition Act(old version) • Sec. 1 Par. 1: „Who acts against morality in business dealings for competition purposes, may be claimed against for ceasing and desisting as well as compensation“ • Sec. 2 Par. 1: „Who provides details in business dealings for competition purposes about his business, quality..., prices ofhis products and services, ... which are potentially misleading, may be claimed against for ceasing and desisting ...

  7. Formal Oligation to • cease and desist from advertising airfares in Austria, such as but not limited to fares for flights to Frankfurt (Hahn), London (Stansted) ... at EUR 1,-- ... in particular in Austrian newspapers like ... if these fares do not include all applicable fees and taxes ... • pay a contractual penalty of EUR 5.000,-- per incident for each further infringement of this obligation • publish this obligation in the editorial sections of the relevant newspapers

  8. Ryanair‘s Defence: • not misleading, consumers used to add taxes • prices excluding taxes only advertised by mistake • no relevant influence on consumer‘s decision • no danger of repetition because of strict observation of national laws

  9. Austrian Workers‘ Chamber

  10. 2. Case Austrian Airlines v Niki Luftfahrt GmbH

  11. Advertisements • Flights to Paris, Rome Zurich „from EUR 29,--“ • direct booking through website • 11,5 to 14,4 % of the seats

  12. Claim to cease and desist from advertsing low fares whereas consumers have to pay more expensive fares because • non-availability of seats at the advertised fare within the months indicated on the website despite availability of more costly seats • non-availability of a return flight at the advertised fare within the months indicated on the website but only at more costly fares • next flight at avertised fare available no earlier than in more than 10 weeks from advertisement despite availability of more costly seats before that date

  13. Interim Injunction • to cease and desist from advertising low airfares • if no sufficient number of seats at these fares available for online-booking to cover consumer request to be expected • but only seats at more costly fares available • specifcly if within a timeframe following the advertisement of about 4 ½ month as indicated on the website no single seat and/or no return flight available at advertised fare

  14. Supreme Court Reasoning(OGH 4 Ob 265/05g) • Consumers are aware of limited availability of cheap seats and do not expect availability at each flight if only any seats are available; they are expecting necessity of long term booking. • Consumers are expecting possibility of online booking; availability of seats through other channels is therefore irrelevant. • Low fare flights are often used for short trips; consumers therefore expect availability of a low fare return flight.

  15. Contact: Michael Wukoschitz SCHMIDT KORNFELD WUKOSCHITZ WINDHAGER RECHTSANWÄLTE - ATTORNEYS AT LAW Mariahilfer Straße 1d, A 1060 Vienna, Austria Tel ++43 (1) 586 15 21 Fax ++43 (1) 587 42 06 E-Mail: wukoschitz@coop-recht.at Web: www.coop-recht.at

More Related