Hidden fees
European Union — air fare all-inclusive pricing, Regulation (EC) No 1008/2008 art. 23
SupranationalEUAIRRead off primary law
European Union, EEA and Switzerland — air services
- Rule id
- fees.eu-air
- Version
- 1.0.0
- In force from
- November 1, 2008
- Last read against its sources
- August 5, 2026
- Countries bound
- 31 countries
In plain language
What this regime says.
Article 23 of Regulation (EC) No 1008/2008 requires the final all-inclusive air fare to be shown at all times, itemised into fare, taxes, airport charges and other charges, with optional supplements offered strictly on an opt-in basis. It is the strongest fee-transparency rule in consumer law and it is badly underused.
Who is covered
Anyone buying air services operated from, to or within the EU, and in the EEA and Switzerland by agreement, from a carrier or an agent.
What you get
The charge that should have been inside the advertised fare, reimbursement of any pre-selected optional supplement, and a free complaint to the national enforcement body.
Where claims go wrong
- Accepting "the total was right at the end". Air Berlin holds that the final price must be shown from the first indication of prices, including in search results.
- Accepting the airline's label of a charge as optional. The test is whether it is unavoidable in fact.
- Not claiming pre-selected extras back separately under CRD art. 22.
- Not complaining to the national enforcement body, which enforces article 23 and does impose penalties.
Authority
Every citation,
with its pinpoint.
A claim that cites “EU law” gets filed. A claim that cites Article 7(1)(c) gets answered. These are the exact coordinates this entry rests on.
- Regulation (EC) No 1008/2008, art. 23(1)Regulation (EC) No 1008/2008 on common rules for the operation of air services in the CommunityURL verified 2026-08-05art. 23(1) — the final price to be paid shall at all times be indicated and shall include the applicable air fare or air rate as well as all applicable taxes, and charges, surcharges and fees which are unavoidable and foreseeable at the time of publication. In addition to the final price, at least the air fare or rate, taxes, airport charges and other charges, surcharges or fees such as those related to security or fuel shall be specified where they have been added. Optional price supplements shall be communicated in a clear, transparent and unambiguous way at the start of any booking process and their acceptance by the customer shall be on an "opt-in" basis
- Air Berlin plc & Co Luftverkehrs KG v Bundesverband der Verbraucherzentralen (C-573/13)Court of Justice of the European UnionURL verified 2026-08-05The final price must be indicated for each air service whose fare is shown, and not only for the service ultimately selected — including in a table of results produced by an electronic booking system, and from the moment prices for specific flights are first indicated
- ebookers.com Deutschland GmbH v Bundesverband der Verbraucherzentralen (C-112/11)Court of Justice of the European UnionURL verified 2026-08-05"Optional price supplements" in art. 23(1) covers costs connected with the air travel service that are not unavoidable, including those for a service supplied by a third party such as travel cancellation insurance sold through the booking process — which must therefore be offered on an opt-in basis
- Vueling Airlines SA v Instituto Galego de Consumo (C-487/12)Court of Justice of the European UnionURL verified 2026-08-05The price of transporting checked baggage may be treated as an optional price supplement, since the service can be provided without it; but the carriage of items of hand baggage is in principle an essential element of carriage and may not as a general rule be made subject to a price supplement
Sources
Where a figure is indexed, converted or published by a regulator rather than fixed in the instrument, the provenance is recorded separately. Anything marked as a modelled estimate is exactly that — a model, not a statutory number.
- Your Europe — prices, payments and consumer rightsEuropean Unionretrieved 2026-08-05
- European Consumer Centres Network (ECC-Net)European Commissionretrieved 2026-08-05
What it imposes
Clocks, defences and the ladder.
A rule module builds these while it evaluates, because a limitation period depends on which forum is open to you. What follows is the structure this regime produces — deliberately with no dates and no figures, because those belong to your facts rather than to the law.
Documents
What this regime can produce.
Every one of these is a document you send yourself, in your own name. Duesday never writes to anybody on your behalf and is never anyone’s agent.
The same claim type elsewhere
European Union — price indication, drip pricing, pre-ticked extras and surchargingEUSupranational — 27 countriesDirective 98/6/EC, arts. 2(a) and 3(1)Confidence: highUnited Kingdom — drip pricing under the DMCCA 2024 and the CPUTRGBNational — United KingdomDigital Markets, Competition and Consumers Act 2024, Part 4Confidence: mediumCalifornia — SB 478 Honest Pricing Law and the Consumers Legal Remedies ActUS-CASub-national — United StatesCal. Civ. Code § 1780Confidence: highCanada — drip pricing under the Competition ActCANational — CanadaCompetition Act (R.S.C. 1985, c. C-34), ss. 52, 74.01 and 36Confidence: mediumColorado — Consumer Protection ActUS-COSub-national — United StatesC.R.S. §§ 6-1-105, 6-1-113Confidence: mediumConnecticut — Unfair Trade Practices ActUS-CTSub-national — United StatesConn. Gen. Stat. §§ 42-110b, 42-110gConfidence: mediumMassachusetts — junk-fee regulations and Chapter 93AUS-MASub-national — United StatesM.G.L. c. 93A, § 9Confidence: mediumMinnesota — 2024 mandatory-fee disclosure law and the private attorney general statuteUS-MNSub-national — United StatesMinn. Stat. § 8.31, subd. 3aConfidence: low
Other rights in the same countries
Austria — ÖBB FahrgastrechteATNational — AustriaRegulation (EU) 2021/782 as applied in AustriaConfidence: lowAustria — rental deposit (Allgemeines Bürgerliches Gesetzbuch (ABGB) § 16b, and the Mietrechtsgesetz (MRG))ATNational — AustriaAllgemeines Bürgerliches Gesetzbuch (ABGB) § 16b, and the Mietrechtsgesetz (MRG)Confidence: lowBelgium — action en réparation collective (Code de droit économique, Book XVII)BENational — BelgiumCode de droit économique / Wetboek van economisch recht, Livre XVII, Titre 2 (arts. XVII.35 et seq.)Confidence: lowBelgium — rental deposit (Regional housing codes: Vlaams Woninghuurdecreet, Décret wallon relatif au bail d’habitation, Code bruxellois du Logement)BENational — BelgiumRegional housing codes: Vlaams Woninghuurdecreet, Décret wallon relatif au bail d’habitation, Code bruxellois du LogementConfidence: lowBelgium — SNCB/NMBS compensation for delays and for repeated delays on season ticketsBENational — BelgiumRegulation (EU) 2021/782 as applied in BelgiumConfidence: lowBulgaria — rental deposit (Закон за задълженията и договорите (Obligations and Contracts Act), наем)BGNational — BulgariaЗакон за задълженията и договорите (Obligations and Contracts Act), наемConfidence: lowCroatia — rental deposit (Zakon o najmu stanova and the Zakon o obveznim odnosima)HRNational — CroatiaZakon o najmu stanova and the Zakon o obveznim odnosimaConfidence: lowCyprus — rental deposit (Rent Control Law of 1983 (23/1983) for controlled tenancies, and the general law of contract)CYNational — CyprusRent Control Law of 1983 (23/1983) for controlled tenancies, and the general law of contractConfidence: low
Does this one reach your facts?
The engine runs every regime that could apply at once and reconciles them, rather than making you guess which page to read.
Not a law firm. Not legal advice. You send it yourself. This page describes a law; it is not advice about your situation and no outcome is promised.