Order 2011-6-33

UNITED STATES OF AMERICA

DEPARTMENT OF TRANSPORTATION

OFFICE OF THE SECRETARY

WASHINGTON, D.C.

Issued by the Department of Transportation

On the 30th day of June, 2011

Globester, LLC Docket OST 2011-0003

Served June 30, 2011

Violations of 49 U.S.C. § 41712 and 

14 CFR Parts 399 and 257 

CONSENT ORDER

This consent order concerns Internet advertisements by Globester, LLC (Globester), that 

violated the Department’s full-fare advertising requirements specified in 14 CFR Part 

399, the Department’s code-share disclosure rule, 14 CFR Part 257, and the statutory 

prohibition against unfair and deceptive practices, 49 U.S.C. § 41712. It directs 

Globester to cease and desist from future violations of Parts 399 and 257 and section 

41712, and assesses Globester a compromise civil penalty of $40,000. 

Applicable Law

Globester is a ticket agent1

 1 A “ticket agent” is “a person (except an air carrier, a foreign air carrier, or an employee of an air 

carrier or foreign air carrier) that as a principal or agent sells, offers for sale, negotiates for, or holds itself 

out as selling, providing, or arranging for air transportation.” 49 U.S.C. § 40102(a)(45).

that sells air transportation and is therefore subject it to the 

advertising requirements of Part 399 of the Department’s rules and the prohibitions of 
2

49 U.S.C. § 41712 on engaging in unfair and deceptive practices and unfair methods of 

competition. Pursuant to 14 CFR 399.84, advertisements specifying airfares must state 

the full price to be paid by the consumer. Under long-standing enforcement case 

precedent, the Department has allowed taxes and fees collected by carriers and ticket 

agents, such as passenger facility charges and departure taxes, to be stated separately 

from the base fare in advertisements, so long as such taxes and fees are levied by a 

government entity, are not ad valorem in nature, i.e., not assessed as a percentage of the 

fare price, are collected on a per passenger basis, and their existence and amounts are 

clearly indicated at the first point in the advertisement where a fare is presented so that 

consumers can immediately determine the full fare to be paid.2

In Internet advertising displays, taxes and fees that may be properly stated separately 

from the advertised fare may be disclosed through a prominent link placed adjacent to the 

stated fare that notes that taxes and fees are extra and directly takes the viewer to the 

bottom of the screen, or to a pop-up or place on a separate screen, where the nature and 

amount of taxes and fees are prominently and immediately displayed.

 

3 Thus, fare 

advertisements that 1) fail entirely to identify the existence and amount of separate 

additional taxes and fees at the first point at which a fare is displayed, 2) include only 

general statements regarding the existence of such taxes and fees, or 3) separately state 

ad valorem taxes or non-government imposed fees, such as a ticket agent’s “service fee,”

do not comply with section 399.84 or the Department’s enforcement case precedent. 4

Additionally, as detailed in 49 CFR Part 1510, there are specific disclosure requirements 

pertaining to the September 11th Security Fee of $2.50 per enplanement on passengers of 

domestic and foreign carriers in air transportation originating at airports in the United 

States. Pursuant to section 1510.7, air carriers and foreign air carriers are specifically 

required to identify this fee as the “September 11th Security Fee” in all advertisements 

and solicitations for air transportation where it is not included in the advertised base fare. 

The Department considers the failure of a carrier or ticket agent to identify the September 

 

Violations of section 399.84 constitute unfair and deceptive practices in violation of 

section 41712. 

 2 On April 20, 2011, the Department issued a rule changing its enforcement policy with respect to 

section 399.84 to require that airlines and ticket agents comply with the rule as written. Under this new 

enforcement policy, which is effective October 24, 2011, airlines and ticket agents must include all 

government taxes and fees in every advertised fare. The Department’s long-standing prohibition on 

omitting carrier- or agent-imposed charges, such as fuel surcharges or convenience fees, from advertised 

fares remains in effect.

3 For example, a carrier or ticket agent could advertise a flight in the following manner: “$260 + 

Taxes and Fees” with the phrase “Taxes and Fees” set off as a hyperlink that takes the viewer directly to 

the bottom of the screen or to a pop-up or place on a separate screen, where the nature and amount of taxes 

and fees are prominently and immediately displayed. See Department notices entitled “Disclosure of Air 

Fare Variations: Web vs. Other Sources, Surcharges that May be Listed Separately in Advertisements,” 

dated November 4, 2004; “Disclosure of Additional Fees, Charges, and Restrictions on Air Fares in 

Advertisements, Including ‘Free’ Airfares,” dated September 4, 2003; and “Prohibition on Deceptive 

Practices in the Marketing of Airfares to the Public Using the Internet,” dated January 18, 2001, available 

at: http:airconsumer.ost.dot.gov/rules/guidance.htm.

4 See, e.g., Air Jamaica, Ltd., Violations of 49 U.S.C. § 41712 and 14 CFR 399.84, Order 2008-12-

25 (December 30, 2008).
3

11th Security Fee as required by the rule to constitute a separate and distinct unfair and 

deceptive practice in violation of 49 U.S.C. § 41712.5

Finally, Globester is also subject to the Department’s code-share disclosure requirements. 

Section 257.4 of the Department’s code-share disclosure rule states that the holding out 

or sale of scheduled passenger air transportation involving a code-sharing arrangement is 

an unfair and deceptive trade practice in violation of 49 U.S.C. § 41712 unless, in 

conjunction with that holding out or sale, a ticket agent follows certain notice 

requirements, including those of 14 CFR 257.5(d). The specific terms of section 257.5(d) 

require that print advertisements, including those published on the Internet, “prominently 

disclose that the advertised service may involve travel on another carrier,” “clearly 

indicate the nature of the service in reasonably sized type,” and “identify all potential 

transporting carriers... by corporate name and by any other name under which that 

service is held out to the public.” 

Facts and Conclusions

An investigation by the Office of Aviation Enforcement and Proceedings (Enforcement 

Office) revealed a significant lack of compliance by Globester with the Department’s 

full-fare advertising rule. From at least August of 2010 through the early part of 2011, 

Globester failed to properly disclose to consumers that additional taxes and fees applied 

to fares advertised on its Internet website, www.globester.com, and it failed to include the 

7.5 percent Federal excise tax, as well as its own service fee, in its advertised fares. 

More specifically, Globester advertised a number of fares on its homepage but failed to 

notify consumers that additional taxes and fees would be added to the advertised fares. 

Following a search of a requested itinerary, Globester advertised fares at the top if its 

flight itinerary page via a fare matrix. While an asterisk was placed next to the fares 

contained in the fare matrix, and the language “(*) Fare are exclusive of taxes and fees”

appeared at the bottom of the fare matrix, the quoted language was not a hyperlink and 

consumers had no way of knowing either the amount or the nature of the taxes and fees 

that would be applied to the advertised fares. 

Globester also advertised, on its flight itinerary page, a list of fares that corresponded 

with the fares it listed in its fare matrix. Next to the fares was a “+ Taxes & Fees” 

hyperlink, which displayed a pop-up in which the amount of the taxes and fees and the 

full fare was disclosed. The pop-up, however, did not display the nature of the taxes and 

fees that were excluded from the advertised fare. Globester’s failure to disclose the 

nature of the advertised fares on its flight itinerary page consequently resulted in 

Globester failing to inform consumers that it excluded the September 11th Security Fee 

from the fares advertised on the flight itinerary page, as required by 49 CFR 1510.7, 

which constitutes a separate violation of 49 U.S.C. § 41712. Finally, the fares that 

Globester advertised on both the homepage of www.globester.com and on the website’s 

 5 See, e.g., A Better Fare, LLC, Violations of 49 U.S.C. § 41712 and 14 CFR 399.84, Order 2003-1-

12 (Jan. 16, 2003).
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flight itinerary pages excluded Globester’s service fee and the 7.5 percent Federal excise 

tax, which are taxes and fees that may not be broken-out from the base fare. 

Our investigation also revealed a significant lack of compliance by Globester with section 

257.5 of the Department’s code-share disclosure rule. During at least the latter half of 

2010, Globester failed to properly disclose the existence of code-sharing arrangements 

when advertising code-share flights operated on behalf of a major air carrier by a regional 

air carrier on its Internet website, www.globester.com. Specifically, it did not display the 

corporate names of the transporting carriers and any other names under which those 

flights were held out to the public on its flight itinerary pages. Globester’s failure to 

properly disclose the existence of code-sharing arrangements and the names of the 

transporting carriers resulted in consumers having no way of knowing the identity of the 

airline that would actually operate the aircraft on which they would be flying.

 Mitigation

In mitigation, Globester states, with respect to the Department’s advertising 

requirements, that it always showed the full fare on its purchase page before a customer 

made a purchase. Globester states that it never intended to mislead its customers and that 

any omission of taxes and fees from the base fare was not intentional. Globester states 

that as soon as its advertising deficiencies were identified it corrected its website.

With respect to the Department’s code-share disclosure regulations, Globester states that 

it relied on its Global Distribution System (GDS) to provide the flight information on its 

website, www.globester.com. Globester states that because its GDS did not provide the 

code-share information, it was unable to display the information on its website. 

Globester states that in cases when the operating carrier was a wholly-owned subsidiary 

of the marketing carrier, its GDS did not provide the name for the operating carrier, 

which is the reason that it did not display the name of the operating carrier in such cases. 

Globester states that it displayed the required data on its website as soon as its GDS 

provided the code-share information.

Decision

The Enforcement Office has carefully considered the information provided by Globester 

and continues to believe that enforcement action is warranted. The Department views 

compliance with the Federal aviation statutes and regulations very seriously. The 

Enforcement Office and Globester have reached a settlement of this matter in order to 

avoid litigation. Without admitting or denying the violations described above, Globester

consents to the issuance of this order to cease and desist from future violations of 49 

U.S.C. § 41712 and 14 CFR Part 399 and 257 and to the assessment of $40,000 in 

compromise of potential civil penalties otherwise due and payable pursuant to 49 U.S.C. 

§ 46301.
5

This compromise assessment is appropriate considering the nature and extent of the 

violations described herein and serves the public interest. It represents a strong deterrent 

against future noncompliance with the Department’s advertising requirements. 

This order is issued under the authority in 49 CFR 1.57a and 14 CFR 385.15.

ACCORDINGLY,

1. Based on the above information, we approve this settlement and the provisions of 

this order as being in the public interest;

2. We find that Globester, LLC, violated 14 CFR 399.84 by advertising fares that 

failed to state the entire price to be paid;

3. We find that Globester, LLC, violated 14 CFR 257.5(d) by failing to disclose 

code-sharing arrangements as required; 

4. We find that by engaging in the conduct and violations described in ordering 

paragraphs 2 and 3 above and by failing to properly disclose the September 11th

security fee, Globester, LLC, engaged in an unfair and deceptive trade practice 

and unfair method of competition in violation of 49 U.S.C. § 41712;

5. We order Globester, LLC, and all other entities owned or controlled by, or under 

common ownership and control with Globester, LLC, their successors, affiliates, 

and assigns, to cease and desist from further similar violations of 

49 U.S.C. § 41712, 14 CFR 399.84, and 14 CFR 257.5;

6. We assess Globester, LLC, $40,000 in compromise of civil penalties that might 

otherwise be assessed for the violations described in ordering paragraphs 2, 3 and 

4, above. Of this total penalty amount, $20,000, shall be due and payable as 

follows: $2,000 shall be due and payable within 60 days of the date of issuance 

of this order; and six additional payments of $3,000 each shall be due and payable 

on October 1, 2011, January 1, 2012, April 1, 2012, July 1, 2012, October 1, 

2012, and January 1, 2013. The remaining portion of the civil penalty amount, 

$20,000, shall become due and payable if, before January 15, 2013, Globester, 

LLC, violates this order’s cease and desist provisions or fails to comply with this 

order’s payment provisions, in which case, Globester, LLC, may become subject 

to additional enforcement action for violation of the order; and

7. Payments shall be made by wire transfer through the Federal Reserve 

Communications System, commonly known as "Fed Wire," to the account of the 

U.S. Treasury in accordance with the instructions contained in the attachment to 

this order. Failure to pay the penalty as ordered shall subject Globester, LLC, to 

the assessment of interest, penalty, and collection charges under the Debt 

Collection Act, and to possible additional enforcement action for failure to 

comply with this order.
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This order will become a final order of the Department 10 days after its service date 

unless a timely petition for review is filed or the Department takes review on its own 

motion.

BY:

ROSALIND A. KNAPP

Deputy General Counsel

(SEAL)

An electronic version of this document is available at 

www.regulations.gov