Misleading and cheating customers…

Today’s story in the Financial Times ‘Brussels airline fees crackdown bears fruit’ contains the astonishing finding that the Commission’s evaluation of airlines around Europe found that ‘hundreds of their websites are flouting consumer law…137 out of 388…were misleading or cheating consumers.‘ Many of the same airlines identified have CSR reports discussing how they are cutting CO2 emissions, noise pollution and helping regional economic development in Europe.

This highlights why some CSR reports are hog-wash: focusing on a few convenient bits of good practice while missing out on fundamentally dishonest and unfair business practices, which in this case even break local laws. If the corporate responsibility movement is about anything, then surely it is just this type of illegal and unfair activity that it should be eliminating. We should also be highlighting those airlines whose practices are honest so that we consumers can reward them with our business.