As things stand today, it’s considered “an unfair or deceptive practice” to fail to disclose the full price of air transport, including any and all government-imposed taxes and fees, in ads or other marketing communications and online booking apps.
In other words, no advertising a low-ball foundation fare, if the price, with fees included in, is much higher. It is called airfare transparency, and its purpose is to allow travel consumers to produce apples-to-apples comparisons while looking for flights.
Airlines have opposed the rule because its imposition, in 2012, calling it intrusive government regulation. Consumer advocates, including this writer encourage the principle, characterizing it as a consumer defense.
In a win for its airlines and also a setback for traveling customers, the rule may be undermined by legislation currently being voted on by the House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee.
Included among the 622 sections of H.R. 2997, the FAA reauthorization bill known as the 21st Century Aviation Innovation, Reform, and Reauthorization Act, is a provision (Sec. 505, near the base) that will amend the airfare transparency rule to allow the advertising of base fares, given that taxes and fees are revealed “via a link or pop-up … in a fashion that’s easily accessible and viewable by the customer.”
Anything short of showing the all-in price of tickets up front is not airfare transparency; it is airfare opacity. It is a return to the bad old pre-2012 days, when much airfare advertising was bogus, packed with nasty surprises when the closing “Pay This Amount” price bore little relation to the advertised base cost.
It’s received little in the means of debate or attention because the new rule was hidden deep within an enormously complex and reauthorization bill.
Traveling consumers should be prepared for a surprise, wrapped in a surprise.
Reader Reality Check
Is it unreasonable to anticipate airfare transparency from travel agents and airlines?