Orbitz fined $60,000 for failing to disclose taxes and fees
The U.S. government fined the Orbitz travel website $60,000 for violating federal laws that require travel sites to clearly disclose taxes and fees on airfares.
The U.S. Transportation Department said Monday that earlier this year, the Orbitz website advertised airfares without disclosing that passengers must pay extra fees and taxes for the airline tickets.
“Consumers have a right to know the full price they will be paying for airfares,” U.S. Transportation Department Secretary Ray LaHood said in a statement. “We established airline price advertising rules to protect the consumer and will take enforcement action when these rules are violated.”
An Orbitz spokeswoman said a glitch that resulted in fares being displayed without a prominent link to additional fees and taxes has been addressed and that Orbitz is in compliance with the Transportation Department.
According to the Transportation Department, Orbitz customers were not notified of the additional charges until they followed the link to another page and scrolled to the bottom, where the information about taxes and fees was included in fine print.
Also, customers who selected discounted fares on Orbitz found those fares were no longer available, and they were instead taken to a page displaying a different fare, the federal agency said.
Under federal laws, online travel sites must disclose separate taxes and fees through a prominent link next to the fare, and the link must take the viewer directly to information displaying the type and amount of taxes and fees. In addition, the law says that the sites must offer a reasonable number of seats for an advertised fare. The rules apply to online travel companies as well as airlines.
