With the Commercial Practices Decision with File Number 2024/2660 (“Decision“), published on the website of the Turkish Ministry of Commerce Advertisement Board (“Board“), the general practice of a  company operating in airlines sector’s call center was found to be in violation of the Regulation on Commercial Advertising and Unfair Commercial Practices and the Law No. 6502 on Consumer Protection.

During a flight ticket purchase through a call center, it was determined that the additional service fees were not specified at the beginning of the call and this was misleading to the consumer. The information that online transactions were cheaper was given to the consumer after the transaction was approved. This practice was found to be in violation of the Regulation on Commercial Advertisement and Unfair Commercial Practices and the Law No. 6502 on Consumer Protection. The Board decided to impose administrative fines and suspension of unfair commercial practices.

The full text of the Decision can be reached via this link. (Only available in Turkish)