Credit card class action gets go-ahead Ian Taylor


The Competition Appeal Tribunal (CAT) has given the go-ahead to a class action or ‘collective proceedings’ against Mastercard and Visa on behalf of travel and hospitality companies. Specialist law firm Harcus Parker


launched the proceedings more than two years ago seeking repayments by Mastercard and Visa for alleged overcharging on ‘multilateral interchange fees’ (MIFs) on corporate card payments, which form a large part of the merchant service charges that banks levy on card payments. Businesses pay these fees to


‘acquirers’ – the banks processing card payments on their behalf – but


the charges are set by Visa and Mastercard which, in turn, receive service fees from the banks. Harcus Parker lawyers claim


the fees are “anticompetitive and unlawful”. The proceedings were ‘stayed’ by


a CAT ruling a year ago that invited the claims lawyers to revise their proposals for the proceedings. Harcus Parker competition


litigation partner Jeremy Robinson hailed the ruling last week, which followed a hearing in April, saying: “This is excellent news for businesses in travel and hospitality.” In a statement, Harcus Parker


said: “We’re pleased this important claim will now proceed despite Mastercard and Visa’s attempts over


Six airports left in dark over revival of 100ml liquids rule


Ian Taylor


Aviation leaders remain in the dark as to why the Department for Transport (DfT) reintroduced 100ml restrictions on liquids in hand luggage at all UK airports from Sunday or how long these will remain in place. The DfT announced late last


Friday it was reintroducing the restrictions at the six UK airports that had relaxed these after installing new 3D computer tomography (CT) security scanners that enable liquids in normal-sized containers to remain in cabin bags. It described the move as


4 13 JUNE 2024


“temporary”, saying it was “to enable further improvements to the new checkpoint systems” and pointed out it would “only affect a small number of passengers” – those flying from London City, Newcastle, Leeds-Bradford, Aberdeen, Southend and Teesside airports – about 6% of the UK total each day. The remaining 94% of passengers


use UK airports where the 100ml liquids restrictions remain anyway. A senior aviation source told Travel


Weekly: “There is an outstanding issue, though we don’t know what, and the DfT wants some time to upgrade the technology. We don’t know how long this could remain in place. The


Who could gain?


UK businesses with a turnover below £100 million are automatically included in the claim unless they opt out. Businesses can register interest in the claim at: commercialcardclaim.co.uk


the last two years to deny thousands of UK businesses a straightforward and effective route to justice. “UK businesses in the travel


and hospitality sectors have been particularly hurt by Mastercard’s and Visa’s commercial card multilateral interchange fees.” More than 2,000 individual claims


have been brought for repayment of the fees, about half of which have


been settled. The outstanding claims have been grouped as ‘umbrella proceedings’, which were subject to a hearing in February – on which a ruling is awaited – and there will be a further trial in November. In its ruling, the CAT invited


lawyers bringing the collective proceedings to align with this. Robinson said: “It’s expected


we should dovetail our proceedings with the umbrella proceedings.” He insisted: “It’s a very positive ruling.” Abta, The Advantage Travel


Partnership, UKinbound, UKHospitality and the Tourism Alliance are among industry groups to have backed the claim, which is fully financed and insured so there is no risk to claimants.


The DfT is reviewing the scanning of liquids in hand luggage by new CT scanners


department is being tight-lipped.” A leading airline source said:


“They have identified something they aren’t happy with and are reviewing the process on liquids. “You still don’t need to take liquids


out of bags [at these six airports] – it’s the volumes of liquids that matter. It’s seen as temporary, but we’ve no idea how long it will be. This is classified stuff because it’s a security issue.” The source noted: “Not even all


the airports with the new scanners had changed their liquids rules, so the impact is not so great and better it happens now. We’re just trying to make everyone aware because we don’t want people turning


up and having liquids confiscated.” Passengers are advised to expect


restrictions on liquids at airport security wherever they fly from. Birmingham airport blamed


queues at security at the weekend on passengers being unaware restrictions remain in place. Airport chief executive Nick Barton said: “We continually have non-compliant bags with liquids over the allowance that result in extended queueing times.” The government had imposed a


June 1 deadline for airports to install CT scanners, claiming it would mean the end of “the tiny toiletry”, but extended this in April after airports said the deadline could not be met.


travelweekly.co.uk


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