Twelve airlines have agreed to include debit card surcharges in their headline price following enforcement from the Office of Fair Trading (OFT).

Aer Lingus, bmibaby, Eastern Airways, easyJet, Flybe, germanwings, Jet2, Lufthansa, Ryanair, Thomas Cook, Thomson and Wizz Air have agreed to advertise the full price for debit cards after the OFT said the payment worked like cash.

Credit card payments can still have a fee but must be clearly displayed and not mentioned only at the end of the booking process.  

“We made it clear from the start that we would use all of our enforcement powers, including court action if necessary, but are pleased to have reached agreement with the airlines before court proceedings were required,” added Clive Maxwell, chief executive of the OFT.

Further plans are in place to potentially ban excessive card surcharges after it was found that airline surcharges cost consumers £300 million a year. 

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Amanda Greenwood