Aviation Daily reports that after a ninth-month review, the US Department of Transportation decided not to make any changes in airfare advertising rules.
The current rules require airlines to list the full fare in advertisements, with several defined exceptions, allowing government taxes and fees to be broken out and put into the fine print. The rule has been in effect for over twenty years. So, when you see an advertisement such as…Jetblue’s recent advertisement…From $39 each way between JFK and Richmond, VA…you may not notice that it is valid for travel on Tuesday Wednesday, or Saturday only. And that…
All fares are subject to change without notice. Sale fares require a 7-day advance purchase. Travel must be booked by Sept. 24, 2006, 11:59 PM MT. Travel must take place between Sept. 25 and Nov. 15, 2006. Travel must be completed by Nov. 15, 2006. Sale fares may not be available on all days or on all flights. Lowest sale fares are available for travel on Tuesday, Wednesday, or Saturday only. All fares must be purchased at time of reservation, and are one-way, nonrefundable, and nontransferable. Cancellations and changes can be made prior to scheduled departure for $30 at 1-800-JETBLUE (or, in the case of changes, at jetblue.com) with applicable fare adjustment. Cancellations are for a JetBlue travel credit only, which is valid for one year. If a reservation is not changed or canceled prior to scheduled departure, all money associated with the reservation is forfeited. Fares do not include Passenger Facility Charges of up to $9 each way, September 11th Security Fees of up to $5 each way, and a Federal Segment Tax of $3.30 per domestic segment. A segment is a takeoff and landing. Puerto Rico and Bermuda fares also do not include government fees and taxes of up to $59.75. All taxes and fees must be paid at the time of purchase. JetBlue reserves the right to deny boarding to passengers without proper documentation. Other restrictions apply. ©2006 JetBlue Airways
We cut this off of their website. In an ad, the typeface would be something like this. Other airlines have similar disclaimers in accordance with DOT regulations. In many other countries, fare advertisements do not include various charges. In the US, the biggest issue is a fuel surcharge.
Two years ago, Ed Perkins of Smarttravel.com commented on these hidden charges. Airlines don’t want these charges in the fare for various reasons. For one, many of them weighed in on the recent DOT proposals and wanted to be allowed to move fuel surcharge notifications to the disclaimer from the current requirement that they be in the advertised fare. Secondly, it gives the airline two avenues to raise prices. Airlines can announce they are raising fares, and they can fail to succeed due market conditions or the failure of their competitors to match the increase, or they can announce they are increasing a fuel surcharge.
Passengers can pretend that the fuel surcharge is a temporary measure. If fuel costs go down, then perhaps this fuel surcharge will be removed. We are waiting for an airline to announce that due to the decrease in the price of crude oil and aggressive hedging(contacts to buy fuel at a prenegotiated rate for a period, regardless of current market value), they are reducing their fuel surcharge or eliminating it. Personally, we’d rather they just raise the fare price if they have to, instead of making it seem like another charge.
As PR people say, everything is how you spin it. A $99 advertised fare seems wonderful until you realize it doesn’t include that $50 fuel surcharge and $20 in taxes.