Order 2011-8-20

UNITED STATES OF AMERICA

DEPARTMENT OF TRANSPORTATION

OFFICE OF THE SECRETARY

WASHINGTON, D.C.

Issued by the Department of Transportation

On the Eighteenth day of August, 2011

Ethiopian Airlines Enterprise Docket OST 2011-0003

Served August 18, 2011

Violations of 49 U.S.C. § 41712 and 

14 CFR 399.84 

CONSENT ORDER

This consent order concerns Internet advertisements by Ethiopian Airlines Enterprise 

(Ethiopian Airlines) that violated the advertising requirements specified in 14 CFR Part 

399, as well as 49 U.S.C. § 41712, which prohibits unfair and deceptive practices. It 

directs Ethiopian Airlines to cease and desist from future violations of Part 399 and 

section 41712, and assesses the carrier a compromise civil penalty of $50,000. 

Applicable Law

As a foreign air carrier, Ethiopian Airlines is subject to the advertising requirements of 

Part 399 of the Department’s rules. Pursuant to 14 CFR 399.84, advertisements 

specifying airfares must state the full price to be paid by the consumer. Under longstanding 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 advertisements where 

a fare is presented so that consumers can immediately determine the full fare to be paid. 

Thus, fare advertisements that 1) fail entirely to identify the existence and amount of 

separate additional taxes and fees, 2) include only general statements regarding the 
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existence of such taxes or fees, or 3) separately state carrier-imposed fees, such as fuel or 

insurance surcharges, do not comply with section 399.84 or the Department’s 

enforcement case precedent.1

 Violations of section 399.84 constitute unfair and 

deceptive practices in violation of 49 U.S.C. § 41712.2 

In print advertisements, an asterisk or other symbol placed proximate to the advertised 

fare may refer the reader to the bottom of the advertisement where the nature and amount

of additional charges that properly may be stated separately from the advertised fares are 

disclosed. With respect to Internet fare listings, such additional charges may be disclosed 

through a prominent link placed adjacent to the stated fare that notes that taxes and fees 

are extra. The link must directly take the viewer to the bottom of the screen, or to a popup or to a place on a separate screen, where the nature and amount of taxes and fees are 

prominently and immediately displayed.3 

Additionally, 49 CFR Part 1510 specifies 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 required to identify this fee 

verbatim as the “September 11th Security Fee” in all advertisements and solicitations that 

do not include the fee in the advertised base fare. The failure of a carrier to identify the 

September 11th Security Fee as required by the rule constitutes a separate and distinct 

violation of 49 U.S.C. § 41712.4

 

1 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 January 24, 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.

2 See, e.g., Continental Airlines, Inc., Violations of 49 U.S.C. § 41712 and 14 CFR 399.84, Order 

2011-6-1 (June 2, 2011). 

3 For example, under current policies, 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 a 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., Sceptre Tours, Inc., Violations of 49 U.S.C. § 41712 and 14 CFR 399.84, Order 2010-6-

23 (June 28, 2010).
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Facts and Conclusions

For a period of time in 2011, consumers searching Ethiopian Airlines’ website for roundtrip flights from a point in the United States to a point outside the United States using one 

of two alternative booking paths provided on the website, labeled “Search by fare,” were 

not provided with the entire price to be paid at the first point a fare was displayed. 

Rather, the fare Ethiopian Airlines initially displayed was subject to “additional 

taxes/fees” and the webpage displaying such fare did not provide any information 

describing these additional taxes and fees, including identifying the September 11th

Security Fee, nor was this information presented to consumers in one of the acceptable 

alternative methods described above. Therefore, consumers did not learn of the full fare 

amount until just prior to purchasing the fare. Additionally, Ethiopian Airlines failed to 

include a significant carrier-imposed fuel surcharge in the advertised fare when it first 

was displayed, further misleading consumers with an artificially low initially advertised 

fare.

Ethiopian Airlines’ failure to provide proper notice to consumers of the nature and 

amount of separately stated taxes and fees in any of the acceptable ways described above 

and its failure to include fuel surcharges in the initially advertised fare violated 14 CFR

399.84 and 49 U.S.C. § 41712. Furthermore, Ethiopian Airlines’ failure to label the 

“September 11th Security Fee” verbatim as described above violated 49 U.S.C. § 41712. 

 Mitigation

In mitigation, Ethiopian Airlines maintains that it takes its obligations under the 

Department’s full fare advertising rule very seriously with the determination to provide 

the general public full, fair and transparent information to assist its customers objectively 

on Ethiopian Airlines’ pricing policies. According to Ethiopian Airlines, its actions were 

inadvertent, unintentional and mostly through oversight, and the violations were not 

committed deliberately in an attempt to conceal or mislead its customers or to violate any 

of the Department’s rules and regulations. Furthermore, Ethiopian Airlines points out 

that its total online sales generated by the activities at issue amounted to only 1.9 percent

of its total sales volume in the United States. 

When the Office of Aviation Enforcement and Proceedings (Enforcement Office) advised 

Ethiopian Airlines of its concerns with pricing information displayed on Ethiopian 

Airlines’ website, Ethiopian Airlines states it took immediate remedial action to bring its 

website into compliance with the Department’s rules, regulations and statutory authority. 

Ethiopian Airlines also states that it has cooperated completely and promptly with the 

Department in amicably resolving this matter and has also taken steps internally by 

instituting checks and balances in its controls so as to better monitor and oversee its 

advertising practices and, therefore, better ensure Ethiopian Airlines’ adherence to the 

Department’s directives, policies and regulations at all times.
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Decision

The Department views compliance with the Federal aviation statutes and regulations very 

seriously. The Enforcement Office has carefully considered the information provided by 

Ethiopian Airlines and continues to believe that enforcement action is warranted. The 

Enforcement Office and Ethiopian Airlines have reached a settlement of this matter in 

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

Ethiopian Airlines consents to the issuance of this order to cease and desist from future 

violations of 49 U.S.C. § 41712 and 14 CFR 399.84, and to the assessment of $50,000 in 

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

§ 46301.

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 Ethiopian Airlines Enterprise violated 14 CFR 399.84 by advertising 

fares that failed to state the entire price to be paid;

3. We find that by engaging in the conduct described in ordering paragraph 2, above, 

and by not identifying in its Internet advertisements the September 11th Security Fee, 

as required by 49 CFR 1510.7, Ethiopian Airlines Enterprise also engaged in an 

unfair and deceptive practice and unfair method of competition in violation of 

49 U.S.C. § 41712;

4. We order Ethiopian Airlines Enterprise and all other entities owned or controlled by, 

or under common ownership and control with Ethiopian Airlines Enterprise, its

successors, affiliates, and assigns, to cease and desist from further similar violations 

of 49 U.S.C. § 41712 and 14 CFR 399.84. Failure to comply with this cease and 

desist provision shall subject Ethiopian Airlines Enterprise and its successors and 

assignees to further enforcement action;

5. We assess Ethiopian Airlines Enterprise a civil penalty of $50,000 in compromise of 

civil penalties that might otherwise be assessed for the violations described above. Of 

this total penalty amount, $25,000 shall be due and payable within 30 days of the date 

of the issuance of this order. The unpaid portion of the assessed civil penalty shall be 

due and payable immediately if Ethiopian Airlines Enterprise violates this order’s 

cease and desist or payment provisions during the 12 months following the service 

date of this order; and
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6. We order Ethiopian Airlines Enterprise to remit the payment ordered in paragraph 5 

above, 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 Ethiopian Airlines Enterprise to the assessment of 

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

additional enforcement action for failure to comply with this order.

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