Which? calls for fresh OFT investigation of travel firms over too good to be true holiday deals By Matt West and Ian Fletcher Leading High Street and online travel companies are breaking legal guidance about sales of holidays with offers of cheap deals that are too good to be true, a consumer watchdog investigation has found. Travel researchers checked out 140 online holiday deals and found nearly half were not available when they clicked through from the initial page. Sometimes the advertised deal was simply not there when researchers clicked through from the original offer. Too good to be true: Which? researchers said holiday firms were still bumping up the price on the initial price of holiday deals through added extras On other occasions it was on the first page, but unavoidable "holiday supplements" were added later, and the price increased when researchers got to the payment page. A third of holiday offers were available at the price stated but only if pre-selected "extras" like luggage and transfers were removed. Travel looked at offers promoted on 10 websites offering holidays which could be booked online, as well as Teletext Holidays, where offers are advertised online and booked over the phone. Researchers looked at 142 deals over four weeks, checking the availability of special offers or late deals offered on the website home page. "In all, we could get the holiday at the date and price offered, without removing any pre-selected extras, for only one in ten of the offers" said Which? Travel. The Which? investigation into holiday deals showed some travel companies were not sticking to legal guidance issued to travel companies in March by the Office of Fair Trading and Civil Aviation Authority following a lengthy price fixing investigation into the industry last year. The guidance told holiday firms how to comply with the relevant consumer laws covering advertising of flights and holidays. The legal guidelines state: All unavoidable and foreseeable charges for flights must be in the headline price Optional extras, such as luggage fees and transfers, must not be pre-selected The name of the airline must be clear from the start of the booking process Travel companies must not display a price that is not the final price consumers are likely to pay. Which? said it found numerous examples of the guidelines being broken. In once instance, Jet2holidays added an unavoidable "holiday supplement" that appeared on the second to last page and added £30 to the total price. A pop-up window said it reflected "updated hotel demand." Meanwhile, travel website Expedia did not give provide a fee-free payment option, offering only a credit card option incurred an unavoidable surcharge. Optional extras were pre-selected by several companies; Expedia, First Choice, Lastminute, Lowcostholidays, Thomson, Thomas Cook and Saga, Which? said. Lastminute, Lowcostholidays and Mercury Direct sometimes did not make the name of the airline clear, initially telling researchers they would be flying with a no-frills airline. Which? executive director, Richard Lloyd called for a new OFT investigation following the findings. 'Holiday companies aren't being upfront with consumers about the real cost of a late deal and are hooking consumers with attractive offers that are often too good to be true,' he said. It is extremely disappointing that some of our most well-known travel companies are breaking the rules despite crystal clear official guidance that they must not display a price that consumers are unlikely to pay.