As more and more hidden costs are affecting the prices of travel tickets and concert tickets, the government have finally taken action against these companies applying hidden debit and credit card surcharges. To do this they have banned these surcharges and plan to introduce this by the end of 2012.
This will benefit the costumer, giving them transparency in purchasing goods. Also, it will give people more confidence in buying online, where the majority of these hidden credit and debit surcharges take place. This will boost sales creating revenue for the government and those companies who operate online.
This confidence will remove the argument that the companies, which used these hidden costs, would lose money by this new proposal.
An example of these debit card surcharges, for flight tickets;
Ryanair – £12 return
EasyJet – £8 return
For costumers these surcharges impact their travel costs a great deal, with such a large economical downturn many families are becoming hard up.
To round it off, this proposal will free up the online market, giving the costumer more confidence leading to an increase in revenue income for companies and the government.
3 Comments on "Hidden costs to be removed!"
I think that this was a very poor move, personally. It’s not the duty of the Government to intervene in this market, or in any market. Markets are self-regulating, and especially in an oligopolistic market like air travel, if the prices are too high, the demand will fall for that particular company. It’s a very simple economic theory that the Government seem to have ignored here.
the government are trying to deliver a easier, clearer system for the population, as confidence in the online trading is needed as it is going to be where the majority of trade will take place in the future.
Mmm a bit wanting your cake and eat it I feel…
– Directors Pay: you want the free market
– Company Charges: you want government regulation
As far as what companies charge, they should be made to be upfront about charges and not hide them in pages and pages of small print. Beyond that, it’s up to them – the only proviso being if they group together as a cartel.
This shouldn’t just apply online – after all, if a family is going to buy a holiday they will spend the money. If they don’t trust online sales then they’ll go to a travel agent. The money will just enter at a different point.
To be honest I think all that will happen is that a £16 ticket with a £2 surcharge will just become a £18 ticket.