United taken to task for false advertising

Posted by Seth on January 18, 2010 under News | Be the First to Comment

The Department of Transportation announced on Friday that United Airlines has been assessed a fine of $30,000 for failing to properly disclose fares inclusive of taxes on their website.  Specifically, there was a 60 hour period during which United failed to include the 7.5% Federal Excise Tax in fares displayed at www.united.com.  Although they quickly resolved the issue when confronted with the error the carrier was still hit with a rather notable fine, mostly because this was the second such violation in a short period of time. 

In August United had a similar violation for which they were fined $75,000.  Half of that fine was suspended for a one year period pending any further violations of the regulation.  They barely made it four months of that probationary year before committing a similar violation, however, meaning that they were required to pay not only the new $30,000 fine but also the $37,500 still pending from the previous violation.

Whoopsie!