Cheap Tickets Canada.com lobbies for travel prices to include Fuel Surcharges.

[Norm]

NEWS RELEASE

Cheap Tickets Canada.com lobbies for travel prices to include Fuel Surcharges.

Victoria, BC / July 7, 2008 – Cheap Tickets Canada.com is encouraging government to follow through on their promise to assure pricing transparency in relation to last year's Bill C-11. In June of 2008, Bill C-11 was passed and included a commitment to add new restrictions on advertised airfare pricing. Unfortunately however, no time line was given and airlines have lobbied to delay any such changes until rules can be enforced among all advertisers including travel retailers and international airlines.

Since April of 2000, Cheap Tickets Canada.com President, Normand Schafer has been prompting government to govern advertised prices on travel especially in regards to fuel surcharges. Cheap Tickets Canada.com is currently encouraging government to implement the changes in various stages as opposed to indefinitely suspending any changes to travel pricing regulations. In a letter to the Minister of Transportation, Lawrence Cannon, Cheap Tickets Canada points out one clear example of how travel prices can be misleading.

To illustrate a point Cheap Tickets Canada.com showed that, "When pricing out a flightfrom Vancouver to London, England on November 5 to 12, 2008 we find a $638 round-trip flight with Air Canada and a $790 round-trip flight with Northwest Airlines. While it appears that Air Canada is offering a flight for $152 less, when all taxes, fees and surcharges are included, the Air Canada ticket was $193.45 more than its competitor. The taxes, fees and surcharges on the Air Canada ticket were $512.95 while they were $193.45 on the Northwest Airlines Ticket!" Such discrepencies are not uncommon and lead to consumers feeling like they have been mislead by advertisements.

Unfortunately, unless the playing field is even, this problem forces all advertisers to follow the same practices. In order to stay competitive companies are forced to advertise before tax prices when consumers are comparing one product to the next. Cheap Tickets Canada.com President Normand Schafer pointed out, "In May 2008 WestJet Airlines began charging a fuel surcharge on flights which would not have been necessary if Air Canada had not been permitted to advertise their prices without the fuel surcharge. With this legislation in effect, consumers would simply have seen an increase in the price of the advertised airline tickets."

Cheap Tickets Canada.com proposes that the first step in regulating pricing changes would be with domestic transportation prices. All airlines operating within Canada can be forced to advertise all-inclusive prices. As this is the case, all travel within Canada could include taxes, fees and surcharges without putting any airline or travel provider at an unfair advantage.

Company President, Normand Schafer stated, "We want consumers to be placed in a position where travel prices are transparent. We want our customers to see the great value our prices are without having to wade through the incomplete advertised prices of our competitors or suppliers."

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For more information, please contact:


Normand Schafer
Cheap Tickets Canada.com
Ph: 250-386-5555 Ext 3133


UPDATE - July 1, 2008 the United Kingdom's legislation requiring all inclusive flight prices went into effect. Mid July 2008 the European Union passed similar legislation with the implementation date still to be determined. Send a letter or email to Canada's Transport Minister Lawrence Cannon [url]http://www.tc.gc.ca/minister/contact.htm[/url] to ask him to finalize Canada's legislation of bill c-11.