AirTran Airways Receives Fine

AirTran Airways has received a fine from the United States Department of Transportation this Wednesday. The fine was for $60,000 because AirTran Airways violated the federal aviation laws that prohibit the advertisement of air travel prices.

In fact, the United States Department of Transportation has set rules that say any advertising that features a price for air travel must state the entire price that the customer will have to be paid, including surcharges and certain taxes that may be added to the price. There are a few exceptions, which includes government imposed fees and taxes that may be set per each passenger. The fare of air travel is supposed to be disclosed in an honest manner in advertisements so customers are aware of how much they will actually have to pay for their air travel.

The fare listings on the Internet are allowed to disclose the cost of these travels and the cost of these fares after taxes and fees are added. However, there has to be a link that will take the viewer to important information in which they will know how much the tax and surcharges will add onto their original fare price.

AirTran Airways has apparently failed to follow the rules for the fall months in 2011. Apparently, the airline company displayed an advertisement which made claims about one-way fares that would cost as low as $59. While the advertisement did claim that there would be certain fees and taxes that would be added to the original cost, there was no information on how many these fees and taxed would be and how high it would raise the original price.

When a consumer clicked on those advertisements, they were not able to find an extensive list of information and details on how much the fees and taxes would cost. In fact, they would have had to scroll all the way to the bottom of the webpage to find out how many these taxes and fees would be and how much it would add on to the original cost of the fare. The information was listed in fine print but could still have been hard for some people to find and see.

The Secretary for the United States Transportation, Ray LaHood, has said, “Consumers have a right to know the full price they will be paying when they buy an airline ticket.” He concluded his statement by saying, “We will continue to take enforcement action when our airline price advertising rules are violated.”

Now that AirTran Airways is receiving a slap on the wrist, many of the other airline companies have been forewarned.  They will know better than to provide misleading advertisement to their customers, especially when it comes to the cost of these tickets.