US AIRWAYS fined $45,000.00
- Thread starter gizmo_sc
- Start date
28L_or_10R?
Veteran
- Apr 11, 2008
- 619
- 216
Doug Parker drops dookie bigger than $45000.
SparrowHawk
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- Nov 30, 2009
- 7,824
- 2,707
Say it ain't so Doug, Say it ain't so!
Doug must have spilled a beer on the ad copy.
Doug must have spilled a beer on the ad copy.
signals
Veteran
More free advertising for US 
jimntx
Veteran
How so? Not everyone travels often enough to be aware of fuel surcharges. Did you read the article? Continental's fine involved an ad that stated the ticket price as $298, but when the fuel surcharges were added the actual fare was $538! Almost double. US's fine involved not even telling the amount of the surcharge anywhere on the website. That is not BS. That is lying.
I bet if you walked into a car dealership to buy a new BMW for the advertised price of $20,000, and you were told that the only available car was equipped with automatic transmission and there was a $25,000 surcharge for automatic (not mentioned in the ad), you would be screaming bloody murder.
How so? Not everyone travels often enough to be aware of fuel surcharges. Did you read the article? Continental's fine involved an ad that stated the ticket price as $298, but when the fuel surcharges were added the actual fare was $538! Almost double. US's fine involved not even telling the amount of the surcharge anywhere on the website. That is not BS. That is lying.
I bet if you walked into a car dealership to buy a new BMW for the advertised price of $20,000, and you were told that the only available car was equipped with automatic transmission and there was a $25,000 surcharge for automatic (not mentioned in the ad), you would be screaming bloody murder.
jimntx
Veteran
I don't agree. There are Consumer Protection Laws which prohibit such practices, and most companies don't risk blatant false advertising anymore. Problem is that the airline business seems to think that not telling you the whole truth is not lying or false advertising. And, the car industry shamelessly publishes ads that imply that you can lease a nice car for less than $200/mo. The infinitesimally small print at the bottom of the ad specifies some ridiculous caveats such as $5000 down payment, inflated residual values, and you have to promise not driving it more than 50 miles during the two year term of the lease.
However, everyone should educate themselves about the Consumer Protection laws. For instance, Sears had to provide me a vacuum cleaner that was not on sale at the sale price because the applicable law states that "the average consumer must have a reasonable expectation that the seller has sufficient quantity of the sale item on hand that the customer would be able to purchase one at the sale price." I went into the store at opening time on the first day of the sale and was told that they were sold out of that model. They "called the other stores" and it turned out the same thing was true at every store in the Dallas area. When I quoted the law to the store manager, they gave me a higher-priced, more powerful model at the sale price to get rid of me.
However, everyone should educate themselves about the Consumer Protection laws. For instance, Sears had to provide me a vacuum cleaner that was not on sale at the sale price because the applicable law states that "the average consumer must have a reasonable expectation that the seller has sufficient quantity of the sale item on hand that the customer would be able to purchase one at the sale price." I went into the store at opening time on the first day of the sale and was told that they were sold out of that model. They "called the other stores" and it turned out the same thing was true at every store in the Dallas area. When I quoted the law to the store manager, they gave me a higher-priced, more powerful model at the sale price to get rid of me.
Art at ISP
Veteran
The key is that all the add-on fees need to be disclosed clearly and BEFORE purchase. All I will say is there is a much better and transparent way to do this than the airlines are currently doing it--the entire fee schedule needs to be explained simply and it needs to be totally transparent. Anything short of that is potentially misleading and should not be acceptable to the flying public--or the regulators.
This fine was about one specific market where the link to the fees was incorrect. CAL was fine about 5 times as much for the same thing.
Art at ISP
Veteran
I was not singling US out for my comment-it applies to ALL airlines. This whole unbundling/ancillary fee business is full of risk for false advertising, and manipulation of GDS listings. The proper way to do it would be to have only 4 or 5 fares in a market, and state which services such as seat selection, exit rows or free bags would be included at each price point. I believe Air Canada, Airtran and Southwest currently do it....
No need to be so defensive, Up...
No need to be so defensive, Up...
