Airlines' unlawful 084, 087 & 09 phone numbers

NFH

From today, 13th June 2014, Article 21 of Directive 2011/83/EU on Consumer Rights outlaws surcharged telephone numbers for customer service lines across the European Union and the wider European Economic Area. Although the directive excludes passenger transport services, the UK decided to remove this exclusion when enacting the legislation in the UK under Regulation 41 of the Consumer Contracts (Information, Cancellation and Additional Payments) Regulations 2013. The result is that 084, 087 and 09 numbers may not be used for customer service lines, including by airlines, in the UK. Although many industry sectors, including the worst abusers of these numbers such as Sky, have complied from today by introducing basic rate 01/02/03 numbers, many airlines are breaching the legislation. The full rules are explained in Section J of BIS's implementation guidance; notable points are:

• If a business continues to operate its customer services lines only on surcharged numbers, consumers now have an automatic legal right to reimbursement of the surcharge from the offending organisation under Regulation 41(2), which can be enforced through the Small Claims track of the County Court.
• A business may continue to advertise surcharged numbers (because they are cheaper for a minority of consumers) but they cannot do so without also advertising a basic rate or free number that is no less prominent than the 084 or 087 number.
• Sales lines (for new business) can continue to use surcharged numbers. Only telephone numbers for existing customers (i.e. where you have already agreed to buy goods or services) are covered by the legislation.

British Airways
British Airways' telephone numbers are still surcharged 0844 numbers in breach of Regulation 41 of the Consumer Contracts (Information, Cancellation and Additional Payments) Regulations 2013.

Ryanair
Ryanair's contact numbers comply only by the bare minimum. It now publishes a surcharged number for "new bookings" and a basic rate number for "post booking queries" for some countries, e.g. the UK, Austria, France, Belgium, Sweden, Norway and Finland. One could assume that all these countries, like the UK, wisely chose to omit the exclusion for passenger transport services in their national legislation. For other countries, e.g. Ireland, Germany, Netherlands, Hungary, Italy, Spain and Poland, it publishes a single number for "new bookings and general queries", so one could assume that these countries preserved the exclusion for passenger transport services in their national legislation.

Easyjet
Easyjet's telephone numbers are basic rate for the UK but surcharged in every other country, including in those where Ryanair provides a basic rate number. If one selects "Rest of World", the non-surcharged UK number is given.

Wizz
Wizz's telephone numbers are all still premium rate, including in the UK in breach of Regulation 41 of the Consumer Contracts (Information, Cancellation and Additional Payments) Regulations 2013.

ukmike

Ryanair's contact numbers comply only by the bare minimum. It now publishes a surcharged number for "new bookings" and a basic rate number for "post booking queries" for some countries, e.g. the UK,

It's still charging 10p per minute today for post booking queries.

NFH

ukmike wrote: »

It's still charging 10p per minute today for post booking queries.

No, it's not. The number is 0330 100 783, which is charged at the same basic rate as a call to a geographic 01 or 02 number.

bagand96

We should march upon Waterside immediately.

Or just try saynoto0870.co.uk

budgetflyer

These boards will never be the same now that Ryanair are only offering normal rates to phone them.
The only way left, now that all the excess charges have been dropped to protect the stupid people, is it add it on to the fares.

bagand96

The only way left, now that all the excess charges have been dropped to protect the stupid people, is it add it on to the fares.

Yep, this and the recent court ruling on flight delays. Which will have a big impact on fares.

Thanks to all the "I went to Spain in 2009 and was delayed by 5 hours. I can't tell you which airline I flew with, and although I know it was June I'm not sure of the date. I may have flown out of Manchester or maybe leeds. However in spite of the fact I can remember no details, this was such a harrowing experience for me I need to know how to claim my €250 please"

firefox1956

budgetflyer wrote: »

These boards will never be the same now that Ryanair are only offering normal rates to phone them.
The only way left, now that all the excess charges have been dropped to protect the stupid people, is it add it on to the fares.

Yes & I think that's been happening for a while now......
:(

NFH

budgetflyer wrote: »

The only way left, now that all the excess charges have been dropped to protect the stupid people, is it add it on to the fares.

That is what should be happening. All these additional charges should be included within headline fares, otherwise the fares represent a misleading indication of price.

NFH

If anyone wants to complain about Wizz's premium rate number, please submit a complaint at http://www.phonepayplus.org.uk/For-the-Public/Make-a-complaint/Complaint-Form.aspx

NFH

I see that, on the same page, Wizz now provides a basic rate number, 0330 365 4902, for existing bookings, thereby complying with the legislation. It doesn't provide a basic rate number for any other country, only for the UK.