Ever see a truly irresistible airfare?
You know the one. It's less than half what you would have expected to pay. It's so good that even though you had no plans to visit that destination, your bags are half-packed already. It appears to be a once-in-a-lifetime airfare, until you start moving through the buying process.
By the time taxes and fees are added, the original quote has been doubled. It's annoying. And in a few weeks, it could be illegal in the United States.
New U.S.D.O.T. rules scheduled to take effect Jan. 24 would require airfares to be advertised as the sum of airfare+fees, rather than with the airfare split from taxes by an asterisk and fine print.
That all-too-common fine print tactic has been legal up to now, but the U.S. government fined airlines 21 times last year for violations.
Spirit Airlines, Allegiant and Southwest are seeking to block the change on grounds it would violate free speech rights.
If it goes through, will those $9 airfare ads from Spirit become collectors' items?