The U.S. Department of Transportation (DOT), announced earlier this week that “public interest will best be served by maintaining the status quo” insofar as maintaining its air-transportation price-advertising rule. The DOT’s decision was in keeping with the American Society of Travel Agents’ (ASTA) comments , in which the Society argued for maintaining governmental restrictions on airline pricing in place to protect consumers. The DOT had solicited comments as to whether it should relax or possibly eliminate enforcement of its “One-Price Policy”.The “One-Price Policy” was established by the DOT in 1984 with the intent of clarifying what is and is not a deceptive price advertisement. The policy mandates how airfares are advertised, allowing only for the exclusion from the total price of fees that are just paid to governments and those paid for agency services that are not part of the transportation service. Everything else, including fuel surcharges, must be incorporated into the quoted price. The DOT had proposed that changes to the policy be made on the grounds that (1) a long time has passed since the original rule was adopted, and (2) electronic communications have led to changes in (a) marketing practices and (b) consumer sophistication. (70 Fed. Reg. 73961-73962).Source: http://travelwirenews.com/eTN/21SEPT2006.htm)(Originally posted by Michael Wukoschitz)
