New Airfare Advertising Rules and You: Fees Become More Transparent

(image credit: Brian Cohen)

New passenger protection rules began taking effect on January 26, 2012 starting with a law requiring airlines to include mandatory government taxes and fees in advertised fares. Here's what you should know about these new Department of Transportation rules.

• Travel booking sites and online travel agencies, in addition to airlines, must also include mandatory flight taxes and fees when advertising fares.
• There's nothing new for fare aggregator websites such as Kayak which were already displaying fares with the full taxes and fees.
• The rules also require vacation packages to show such fees and taxes if it includes airfare.
• Passengers will have a choice to cancel or change a reservation within 24 hours of initial booking as long as the ticket was purchased at least a week before departure.
• Airlines cannot increase the price of a ticket after it is sold.
• Airlines must inform passengers if a flight will be more than 30 minutes late.
• Costs for baggage fees must be displayed on the "first screen containing a fare quotation for a specific itinerary."
• Baggage fees must also be displayed on electronic ticket confirmations.