This week the U.S. Department of Transportation ("DOT") announced that Spirit Airlines ("Spirit") will pay $50,000 to settle allegations that it failed to comply with DOT's full-fare advertising rules when it Tweeted about airfares without disclosing material information about the fares in the Tweets themselves.
DOT rules require that all price advertising for air travel include the full price to be paid by the consumer, including all carrier-imposed surcharges. In addition, DOT allows carriers to advertise each-way fares that are available only when bought for roundtrip travel, so long as the disclosure of the roundtrip purchase requirement in the advertisement is clear and conspicuous.
According to DOT, Spirit's Tweets promoted fares "from just $9* each way!"
The fact that taxes and fees would be charged, and that a roundtrip purchase was required, was only disclosed after they clicked on a link to a landing page. The specific amount of the additional taxes and fees was disclosed only after consumers clicked on a second link. According to the DOT, the failure to disclose in the Tweet that taxes and fees would be charged (with the specific amounts being one click away) and the existence of the roundtrip purchase requirement violated DOT's advertising rules.
While DOT's rules currently permit advertisers to state the taxes and fees collected by carriers and ticket agents separately from the base fare in advertisements (so long as their existence and amounts are clearly indicated at the first point in the advertisement where a fare is presented) a change is on the way: As of January 24, 2012, DOT's new advertising rules will require all taxes and fees to be included in the advertised price. Click here to read our prior alert about DOT's new airline advertising rules.
This alert provides general coverage of its subject area. We provide it with the understanding that Frankfurt Kurnit Klein & Selz is not engaged herein in rendering legal advice, and shall not be liable for any damages resulting from any error, inaccuracy, or omission. Our attorneys practice law only in jurisdictions in which they are properly authorized to do so. We do not seek to represent clients in other jurisdictions.