Order 2012-12-17

UNITED STATES OF AMERICA

DEPARTMENT OF TRANSPORTATION

OFFICE OF THE SECRETARY

WASHINGTON, D.C.

Issued by the Department of Transportation

On the Twenty-Eighth day of December, 2012

Eros Group, Inc. Docket DOT-OST 2012-0002

Served December 28, 2012

Violations of 49 U.S.C. § 41712 and 

14 CFR 257.5 and 399.84 

CONSENT ORDER

This consent order concerns Internet advertisements by Eros Group, Inc., (Eros) that 

violate the advertising and codeshare disclosure requirements specified in 14 CFR

399.84, and 257.5, respectively, as well as 49 U.S.C. § 41712, which prohibits unfair and 

deceptive practices. It directs Eros to cease and desist from future violations of sections 

399.84 and 257.5, and section 41712, and assesses the company a compromise civil 

penalty of $30,000. 

Applicable Law

As a ticket agent, Eros is subject to the advertising requirements of Part 399 of the 

Department’s rules. Pursuant to 14 CFR 399.84, carriers advertising airfares must state 

the full price to be paid by the consumer. Prior to January 26, 2012, the Department 

allowed taxes and fees collected by carriers and ticket agents, such as passenger facility 

charges and departure taxes, to be stated separately from base fares in advertisements, so 

long as such taxes and fees were levied by a government entity, were not ad valorem in 

nature, i.e., not assessed as a percentage of the fare price, were collected on a perpassenger basis, and their existence and amounts were clearly indicated at the first point 

in the advertisements where a fare was presented so that consumers could immediately 
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determine the full fare to be paid. Violations of section 399.84 constitute unfair and 

deceptive practices in violation of 49 U.S.C. § 41712.1 

Section 257.4 of the 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, the advertiser 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

In the spring of 2011, the Office of Aviation Enforcement and Proceedings (Enforcement 

Office) conducted a search of websites under the control of Eros. When advertising codeshare flights operated on behalf of a major air carrier by a regional air carrier, these 

websites failed on their flight itinerary pages to disclose the existence of code-sharing 

arrangements by displaying the corporate names of the transporting carriers and any other 

names under which those flights were held out to the public. Eros’ failure to disclose 

prominently, on the first page on which fares were advertised, the existence of codesharing arrangements and the names of the transporting carriers could have deceived

consumers regarding the identity of the airline that actually operated the aircraft on which

they flew.

Also in the spring of 2011, the homepage of one of Eros’ websites advertised numerous 

fares within the United States and between the United States and foreign points without 

disclosing that taxes and fees were extra in any of the acceptable ways described above. 

Rather, each advertisement stated a fare that did not include additional taxes and fees. 

Although the website stated below each fare that “terms and conditions appl[ied],” this 

summary statement did not provide any information about the existence and the amount 

of the additional taxes and fees. In fact, nowhere on the advertisement itself or on the 

homepage were the existence and amounts of the additional taxes stated. Rather, only 

after consumers selected a city and fare from the home page, and were taken to a landing 

page were they notified of the existence and amounts of additional taxes and fees. Eros’ 

failure to provide proper notice of taxes and fees that may legally be stated separately 

from the fare violates 14 CFR 399.84 and 49 U.S.C. § 41712. 

 1 See, e.g., US Airways, Inc., Violations of 49 U.S.C. § 41712 and 14 CFR 399.84, Order 2011-6-2 (June 2, 

2011); Delta Air Lines, In.,. Violations of 49 U.S.C. § 41712 and 14 CFR 399.84 Order 2010-5-30 (May 

28, 2010); 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 became effective January 26, 2012, 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.
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 Mitigation

In mitigation, Eros states that it takes seriously its responsibility to comply with DOT 

regulations and enforcement case precedent. Moreover, Eros further states that it is 

strongly committed to promoting its fares and services in a transparent and 

understandable manner, and in no way intended to mislead any would-be passenger. Eros 

asserts that it never received any consumer complaints with respect to the fare advertising 

in question and that it also conducted a review of other advertising media. Eros states that 

it is confident that it will comply with DOT regulations in the future and avoid any 

additional violations.

Decision

The Enforcement Office has carefully considered the information provided by Eros 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 Eros have reached a settlement of this matter in order to avoid 

litigation. Without admitting or denying the violations described above, Eros consents to 

the issuance of this order to cease and desist from future violations of 49 U.S.C. § 41712, 

14 CFR 399.84, and 14 CFR Part 257, and to the assessment of $30,000 in compromise 

of potential civil penalties otherwise due and payable.

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 and code-share 

disclosure requirements. 

This order is issued under the authority contained in 49 CFR Part 1.

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 Eros Group, Inc., violated 14 CFR 257.5 by failing to disclose codesharing arrangements as required;

3. We find that Eros Group, Inc., violated 14 CFR 399.84 by advertising fares that failed 

to provide proper notice of taxes and fees that legally may be stated separately from 

the fare;

4. We find that by engaging in the conduct described in ordering paragraphs 2 and 3, 

above, Eros Group, Inc., engaged in unfair and deceptive trade practices and unfair 

methods of competition in violation of 49 U.S.C. § 41712;
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5. We order Eros Group, Inc., and all other entities owned or controlled by, or under 

common ownership and control with Eros Group, Inc., their successors, and assigns, 

to cease and desist from further similar violations of 49 U.S.C. § 41712, 14 CFR 

257.5, and 14 CFR 399.84. Failure to comply with this cease and desist provision 

shall subject Eros Group, Inc., and its successors and assignees to further enforcement 

action;

6. We assess Eros Group, Inc., $30,000 in civil penalties in compromise of civil 

penalties that might otherwise be assessed for the violations found in ordering 

paragraphs 2 and 3 above. Of this total penalty amount, $15,000, shall be due and 

payable as follows: $1,000 shall be due and payable within 15 days of the date of 

issuance of this order, and fourteen additional payments of $1,000 each shall be due 

and payable on January 15, 2013, February 15, 2013, March 15, 2013, April 15, 

2013, May 15, 2013, June 15, 2013, July 15, 2013, August 15, 2013, September 15, 

2013, October 15, 2013, November 15, 2013, December 15, 2013, January 15, 2014, 

and February 15, 2014. The remaining portion of the civil penalty amount, $15,000, 

shall become due and payable if, Eros Group, Inc., violates this order’s cease and 

desist provisions before March 15, 2014, or fails to comply with this order’s payment 

provisions, in which case Eros Group, Inc., may become subject to additional 

enforcement action for any violation of the order; and

7. Payment shall be made through Pay.gov 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 Eros Group, Inc., to the assessment of 

interest, penalty, and collection charges under the Debt Collection Act and to further 

enforcement action for failing 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:

SAMUEL PODBERESKY

Assistant General Counsel for

Aviation Enforcement and Proceedings

An electronic version of this document is available at 

www.regulations.gov