Poland's anti-trust regulator chairman charges Enter Air with violating consumers' interests

The chairman Poland's anti-trust and customer protection office UOKiK has brought charges against Enter Air airlines, which, according to UOKiK, mislead consumers and thus may violate their collective interests, UOKiK stated in a press release.

As stated, the UOKiK questioned 10 practices of the company.

"The Office's analysis shows that Enter Air may make it difficult for consumers to pursue complaints in several ways," wrote the release.

It mentioned that first of all, Enter Air does not respect the law, which has changed the obligations of entrepreneurs regarding the time limit for responding to a complaint. From 1 January 2023, traders have 14 days to do so.

"If they do not respond to consumers' complaints within this period, it means that they have to pay them in full. Meanwhile, Enter Air continues to say that it will deal with complaints within 30 days," the release said.

"Consequently, the lack of a response after 14 days, according to the company, does not indicate that it has been acknowledged, and consumers do not automatically receive what they requested," wrote the release.

It added that in addition, the carrier requires a baggage claim to be filed at the airport immediately after the flight with the baggage claim office. A Property Irregularity Report (PIR) is then prepared.

"In the opinion of the chairman of the UOKiK, this is already a complaint, from which the 14 days the company has to respond should count," the UOKiK wrote.

"However, Enter Air obliges consumers to file another complaint - in writing or electronically through a form on the airline's website, to which they must attach the PIR and other documents, such as the obverse and reverse of a baggage tag or its check slip," it added.

The UOKiK continued that by setting requirements in such a way, conditioning the processing of complaints, the company may be violating consumer rights.

According to the chairman of the UOKiK, Enter Air provides misleading information to consumers about the limitation of its liability for delayed delivery of checked baggage, as well as its liability rules for damage or destruction of checked or hand baggage.

"The rules clearly set out the rights and compensation to which consumers are entitled, and the operator is obliged to inform them of this and pay the compensation due. Any attempt by traders to limit consumer rights and not to respect due claims is unacceptable," UOKiK's chairman, quoted in the release, said.

"As is the failure to respond to complaints within the statutory period. In our opinion, the carrier's practices, such as requiring the submission of a double complaint, may indicate a violation of the collective interests of consumers," he added.

Among other things, the company faces a penalty of up to 10 percent of its turnover for each of the questioned practices.

pel/ han/ nl/