Advertising Law Alerts

April 25th, 2011

DOT Issues New Airline Advertising Rules

Recently, the United States Department of Transportation ("DOT") announced new rules that will bring sweeping changes to airline advertising in the United States. The final rules will be effective later this year.

Highlights of the new rules include:

  • Announcing that DOT will now enforce its price advertising rule (14 CFR 399.84) as written, which states that the advertised price for air transportation, an air tour, or an air tour component must be the entire price to be paid by the customer. DOT had previously permitted advertisers to state most government imposed taxes and fees separately from the advertised price. This carve-out has now been eliminated.  Under the new rules, the advertised fare must include "all government-imposed taxes and fees as well as mandatory carrier-imposed charges, including booking fees if the only way the consumer can obtain the air transportation is by paying the booking fee."
  • Codifying existing enforcement policy with the mandate that when "each-way" fares are contingent on a round-trip purchase, they must be advertised as "each-way" fares, and the round-trip purchase requirement must be clearly and conspicuously disclosed in close proximity to the fare.
  • Prohibiting the use of pre-checked boxes to obtain consumers' consent for the purchase of “ancillary products and services” during air travel or tour package transactions.
  • Requiring disclosure of all fees for optional services via a prominent link on the website home page.
  • Requiring that passengers be informed when additional fees for baggage may apply (and where they can access information about such fees) on the first web page on which a fare is quoted for a specific itinerary.
  • Requiring that any increases in fees for carry-on or checked baggage and any changes in the carry-on or checked baggage allowance be “promptly and prominently disclose[d]” on website homepages for at least three months via a prominent link labeled "Changed Bag Rules" or utilizing other "similarly descriptive" language.


The majority of the provisions in the final rule will take effect 120 days after the rule is published in the Federal Register, with the modifications to the full-fare advertising section taking effect 180 days after such publication.

For additional information on the rule, DOT regulations generally or any other advertising law issue, please contact Jeffrey A. Greenbaum at (212) 826 5525 or jgreenbaum@fkks.com, or any other member of the Frankfurt Kurnit Advertising Group. For more alerts and general announcements from our firm, follow us on Twitter.