Feds Crack Down On Airline Advertising

A couple of weeks ago I kvetched about undisclosed charges on Spirit Airlines, a carrier I'd never flown before and that I'd booked through Orbitz. JMG reader Kevin sends us this today:

Beginning Jan. 24, the Transportation Department will enforce a rule requiring that any advertised price for air travel include all government taxes and fees. For the last 25 years, the department has allowed airlines and travel agencies to list government-imposed fees separately, resulting in a paragraph of fine print disclaimers about charges that can add 20 percent or more to a ticket’s price. But with airlines now promoting fares on Web ads, Facebook and Twitter, and adopting a menu of fees for services that used to be part of the ticket price, the government decided it was time for a change so travelers have a clearer sense of the total price they must pay.

Spirit is among the airlines that have filed challenges to the law that they must reveal the full final ticket price in their ads.