Euro MPs target Hidden Airline Costs - perhaps they need to dig deeper.

MEPs (yes those nice people who clock in to claim their allowances of Friday) are at it again.

This time there is something useful in what they are doing. They want to challenge the pricing schemes of the website displays of airlines and travel operators to get them to show ALL the prices and all charges.

To some extent this is a problem that the EC has created. By complicating charges they are indeed creating and exacerbating the problem. The EC should perhaps look inwardly and examine how the charges are created so that Airlines and travel service providers could have a simpler way to calculate taxes and fees that they need to.

When that is done then lets throw the book at them. However if the USA model is anything to go by then the future does not look bright.

Additionally we see inconsistency of charges by the airlines. BA for example is far more aggressive in collecting taxes than say Delta.

if you would like to see that there are discrepancies - look no further a comparison of charges on the US airline shopping sites like Orbitz.

So before the MEPs get the knickers in a twist - perhaps they should look at the causes and address some of them

Cheers

Timothy