Airlines are finally required to show how much tickets actually cost before you get to the end of your purchase. Meaning you won’t suddenly be surprised by an extra $100 in "fees" …
From NYtimes.com:
This year, the Transportation Department has assessed 21 penalties forfare advertising violations, with total fines of more than $1 million;in 2001, there were 14 penalties and $379,000 in fines.
Since August, Spirit, LAN Airlines, South African Airways, Orbitz,Virgin Atlantic, Thai Airways, JetBlue and Air Canada have all beenfined at least $50,000 each for advertising infractions.
Under current regulations, ticket sellers may list government taxesseparately on an ad promoting a fare, but those mandatory fees must beclearly disclosed — hence the asterisk pointing to additional text or aWeb page that itemizes these charges. One of Spirit’s violations wasadvertising a $9 fare on Twitter and forcing customers to click links to two more Web pages to find out the full cost, including taxes and fees … (Read more on The New York Times.)
