ACCC takes action against Air Asia for misleading pricing

http://www.accc.gov.au/content/index.phtml/itemId/1028315/fromItemId/142

The Australian Competition and Consumer Commission has instituted legal proceedings in the Federal Court, Melbourne against Air Asia Berhad (Air Asia).

Air Asia is a foreign corporation that carries on a business in Australia as a supplier of international air travel services to the Australian public.

The ACCC alleges that Air Asia on its website (www.airasia.com/au) did not display some airfare prices inclusive of all taxes, duties, fees and other mandatory charges. Businesses that choose to advertise a part of the price of a particular product or service must also prominently specify a single total price.

The alleged conduct is in relation to the following flights between:

• Melbourne and Macau, London, Ho Chi Minh City, New Deli, Hangzhou and Chengdu
• Perth and Taipei, Phuket, Osaka, London, Ho Chi Minh City, and Hangzhou, and
• Gold Coast and Ho Chi Minh City.

The ACCC alleges the conduct contravenes section 48 of the Australian Consumer Law within the Competition and Consumer Act 2010.

The ACCC is seeking:

• declarations that Air Asia contravened the Competition and Consumer Act 2010
• an injunction to restrain Air Asia from engaging in misleading conduct in the future
• a court order that Air Asia publish corrective notices on its websites regarding the conduct
• penalties, and
• ACCC costs.

The matter has been filed in the Federal Court's Fast Track List and is listed for a scheduling conference in Melbourne on Friday, 2 March 2012 at 10:15 a.m.

Release # NR 006/12
Issued: 24^th January 2012

Although the airline involved is AirAsia X, the website is owned and operated by AirAsia, so the suit is against AirAsia, not AirAsia X, as I wrote before. AirAsia is providing the following services for AirAsia X, for a fee that has been strongly decreased lately (it was probably more easy to list services that were not included):

1. Engineering2. Cargo
3. Flight Operations4. Procurement
5. In-flight Sales
6. People (Human Resources)
7. Treasury
8. AirAsia Academy (Training)
9. Communications10. Information Technology
11. Ground Operations
12. Security
13. Ancillary Revenue
14. Commercial, Sales & Distribution
15. Go Holiday