End of the £1 flight era as airlines forced to drop misleading adverts

The 13 leading air carriers - which include Ryanair and easyJet - will now have to end the practice of posting cheap flights on their websites before charging passengers more in hefty 'add-on' fees.

Extras must now be highlighted before customers press the 'pay' button on their screens rather than after they have made the booking. These range from airport taxes to booking fees and fuel surcharges.

The Office of Fair trading announced that 11 airlines have already changed their advertisements and websites - both on their web home-pages and booking processes - to include all fixed, non-optional costs in their advertised prices.

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Airlines must reveal before you book exactly how much charges and tax will boost the final cost

The 11 airlines which have already complied fully are: easyJet, bmibaby, Flybe, Thomsonfly, flythomascook, Monarch, Jet2, Globespan, Wizz Air, Sky Europe and German Wings.

Ryanair and Aer Lingus said they have changed their homepages, but claim "technical issues" prevent them from changing their entire website booking processes immediately.

The OFT said it was satisfied that these airlines will be making these changes shortly, and will continue to monitor the situation to ensure the agreed changes are made.

Sean Williams, the watchdog's executive director, said: "The OFT is committed to ensure that consumers are not mislead by advertised prices that bear little relation to actual prices.

"Misleading pricing not only undermines consumer confidence but also distorts competition and we will enforce the law enthusiastically where we find that consumers have been misled."

The Enterprise Act 2002 gives the OFT powers to obtain court orders against traders that breach a range of consumer legislation including in relation to misleading advertising and misleading price indications.

The Air Transport Users Council says adding hidden "extras" was "against the interest of consumers" who cannot easily compare the full prices, are unlikely to shop around for the best deal, and more likely to pay over the odds for their ticket.

The AUC report said; "Even on identical routes, the amount of taxes, fees and charges specified during the booking process varied considerably between airlines."

For the moment, Ryanair has agreed to place "a clear statement" on its website to inform consumers how much the taxes and charges will add to the final price.

The action follows the OFT's warning to the holiday and travel industry in February after all 13 had failed to include all fixed, non-optional costs, such as taxes, in prices on their websites.

At the same time the Association of British Travel Agents ABTA has taken action against members that have failed to comply with the ABTA Code of Conduct in relation to the same type of misleading price indications.

On 13 June, the ABTA Code of Conduct Committee handed out fines and reprimands to several ABTA members for failing to include fixed, non-optional costs in prices.

The OFT said: "We strongly welcomes and supports ABTA's action."

An OFT spokesman said: "The OFT will be working with international partners, including the National Consumer Agency (NCA) in Ireland, to ensure compliance across the holiday and travel industry, and to ensure that the undertakings provided by the airlines are complied with."