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Fareportal OneTravel, CheapOair Investigation Overview:
- Who: Fareportal Inc. will pay $2.6 million to the State of New York following an investigation by New York Attorney General Letitia James.
- Why: James determined Fareportal used deceptive marketing practices to get consumers to complete travel-related purchases on websites such as OneTravel.com and CheapOair.com.
- Where: The investigation was conducted by New York’s attorney general.
The owner of travel websites OneTravel.com and CheapOair.com will pay $2.6 million to the State of New York following an investigation into its marketing practices by the state attorney general.
The investigation determined online travel agency Fareportal Inc. misled consumers by using deceptive marketing tactics that gave them the false belief that hotel reservations and airline tickets were quickly selling out.
New York Attorney General Letitia James revealed the findings in a report filed on Mar. 10 in which she determined Fareportal’s marketing tactics created a “false sense of urgency” meant to get consumers to complete a purchase.
“Fareportal included a number of misleading messages on its online platforms that indicated that the supply of airline tickets was limited at a particular price regardless of the actual number of airline tickets that were available,” James said.
To create a sense of urgency, James says Fareportal would add a “misleading message related to the available supply of tickets for the top two flights returned from a search.”
Fareportal Misleads Consumers About Available Tickets
The amount of tickets Fareportal would say were left would depend on how many a consumer had searched for with the company claiming there was only one more than what they needed at that offered price.
“The messages conveyed the false impression that the listed tickets could sell out at that price at any moment,” James said.
Fareportal would use similar misleading messaging as it pertained to hotel room availability on some of its other online platforms as well, according to James.
In addition to the deceptive marketing tactics, James found Fareportal had been profiting off of service fees added to the price of a ticket at the time of purchase that was later canceled. James noted that these service fees would “ordinarily be refunded” in the event the ticket was ultimately canceled.
“In the years 2017 through 2019, Fareportal averaged over $5 million in annual revenues from such cancellation fees,” James said.
Per the agreement, Fareportal will also be required to ensure all the messages it relays to consumers about product availability are based on accurate date and use accurate comparison prices when offering discounts.
A separate class action lawsuit was filed against CheapOair in 2020 over claims the company charged customers more than what was listed as the “Final Total Price” on its website or mobile app.
Have you purchased airline tickets or hotel accommodations from a site or platform operated by Fareportal? Let us know in the comments!
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26 thoughts onCheapOair.com, OneTravel.com Owner To Pay $2.6M Following AG Investigation
Hi, I’m a New Zealander and on Friday 25th November 2022 I booked a flight to Wellington, from Whangarei. I was trying to book with Air New Zealand. I didn’t realize initially that it was proceeding via Cheapoair. Incidentally, when I did realize, I didn’t worry too much because the prices advertised looked very reasonable and I believed the company was a New Zealand one. The total to pay shown on my mobile phone was $397.00 (no indication given that they were American-based and/or I was looking at American currency. You can imagine my shock when I discovered $580.92 had been charged!! Also the net day I had $72.64 taken out of my bank account. Some for “offshore” charges by my ASB bank and some more from cheapoair. I feel so ripped off. It’s ended up costing me $653.56 just to fly from Whangarei to Wellington return. Compared with $540.00 had I just gone straight through Air NZ.
Cheapoair made out they were offering great deals and that the seats were selling very fast too. What started out as $344.00 suddenly jumped to $369.00 whilst I was working my way through it. I had no “extras” added on except choosing which seat number.
I’d avoid this company like the plague in future. ☹️
One of my flights was cancelled a week before my departure, this caused my whole plan/itinerary to be sabotaged. CheapOair would not reimburse my money, luckily my credit card company was able to secure my funds by filing a dispute claim. Cheap0air is now harassing me with emails and letters stating that I need to pay them even though of the flight cancellations that occurred. Please contact me for further details so I can protect myself from this awful company who has a track record of ripping off hundreds to thousands of customers with deceitful practices! This has impacted my mental focus and state.
My flight was cancelled by Frontier Airlines thru Cheap O Air and they didn’t refund over a $1,000 that was charged to my card. they will not answer the phone and they told my creditor, Capitol One , that I cancelled the flight!!! i have email proof from Frontier that Frontier cancelled the flight. i want my damn money back!!
My card was charged but my booking was canceled! They took money from my card but I haven’t gotten the booking.
Still awaiting a response from Cheapoair on a refund since they notified me of flights being cancelled. They keep saying that they are pending airline response.
We have requested for refund for change of flight and got got email confirmation for the refund its been 8 months and got processed yet. We have called customer service 100 of time not no proper response worst service by cheapoair.
Please add me to this
Add me please. False advertisement. Should have went with a different website.
Add me please to this class action lawsuit
I need to be added to this class action law suit.