EU probes mastercard fees for foreigners in Europe
Posted: April 10, 2013 Filed under: Passenger Advice | Tags: Card Transactions, EEA, EU, Europe, European Commission, European Economic Area, Investigating, Mastercard, Tourists, Visa Leave a commentBy Sophie Griffiths
The European Commission is investigating Mastercard over fees charged for card transactions made by tourists visiting Europe.
The Commission reportedly said that a number of the firm’s “inter-bank fees and related practices may be anti-competitive”, the BBC.
Visa is also being investigated by the Commission over similar practices.
If found guilty Mastercard, which has said it would “fully co-operate” with regulators, could be fined up to $740 million or 10% of its 2012 revenue.
The credit card firm has insisted that it always aimed “to balance the interests of both consumers and retailers”.
The investigation will examine payments made by people from outside the European Economic Area (EEA) – the EU’s 27-member states as well as Norway, Liechtenstein and Iceland – who use their credit and debit cards when inside the area.
The EU has said the main principle of its probe was to ensure that consumers were not harmed.
“When a US tourist uses a Mastercard to make a purchase in [the European Economic Area], these fees can be quite high, generally much higher than those paid in Europe,” European Commission spokesman Antoine Colombani said.
A similar probe in 2007 led to the Commission banning Mastercard from charging cross-border fees within the European Economic Area, the BBC said.
Sourced from TTG Digital
Fuel leak on Dreamliner following FAA probe
Posted: January 14, 2013 Filed under: Accidents & Incidents | Tags: B787, Boeing, Boeing 787 Dreamliner, Dreamliner, FAA, Fuel Leak, Investigating, JAL, Japan Airlines, JL, Ordering, Safety Review, US Federal Aviation Administration Leave a comment
Japan Airlines is investigating a fuel leak on one of its Boeing Dreamliner aircraft, which follows the US’s FAA ordering a safety review into the aircraft type.
The new generation aircraft suffered a series of issues last week, including an onboard fire last week while it was at Boston airport.
Japan Airlines said the latest issue, a fuel leak, occurred during maintenance at Tokyo’s Narita airport yesterday (January 13).
“Fuel from a nozzle on the left wing used for discharging fuel leaked out,” Japan Airlines said. “This aircraft was not scheduled to be in service today and no passengers or working staff on the ground were injured. Appropriate inspections will be carried out.”
In a week of problems, Japan Airlines suffered a first fuel leak on January 8, the day after the onboard fire. This was followed by a cockpit window cracking on an All Nippon Airways Dreamliner and another oil leak on another one of ANA’s 787s.
The FAA ordered a review of the aircraft last week.
Other operators of Dreamliners include United Continental, which recently began operating the aircraft on international routes, and Qatar Airways, which flies the 787 to London daily. Thomson Airways is due to take delivery of its first Dreamliner in the next month.
The Dreamliner is made from composite materials, which makes it much lighter, more fuel-efficient and more environmentally friendly than other aircraft types. It is designed to fly on long-haul routes which do not necessarily support such a large aircraft like the 747. Boeing has 848 orders for the new aircraft.
Sourced by TTG Digital
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