USDOT Fines Travelocity over Fee Disclosure

Last week the USDOT announced it had fined online travel-site Travelocity for violating rules on full-fare disclosure. Travelocity was fined $180,000.00.

A investigation by DOT's Aviation Enforcement Office found that potential customers booking international flights did not see all surcharges and other fees until an itinerary was selected, where the full fare was then disclosed. The rationale for the fine was the consumers may have selected certain routes on the basis of price, for which the full price was not actually disclosed, and therefore may have prevented them for selecting other options based on price.

In a somewhat related action, the same enforcement office also fined air carrier World Atlantic Airlines for failing to provide previously booked flights after charter operator Direct Air missed payments to the carrier and later ceased operations. Here is the World Atlantic announcement, which also resulted in a $180,000.00 fine.

A $180,000 fine seems very steep for a carrier that did not complete flights for which it had contracted, but had not been paid by the charter operator. I certainly have sympathy for charter passengers left high and dry when a charter operator ceases operations, which happened here, but basically the air carrier was fined $180K for requiring payment before flying, which is against DOT rules. DOT rules also prevent charter flights from being canceled less than 10 days before the scheduled departure.