2015-3-5

 UNITED STATES OF AMERICA

DEPARTMENT OF TRANSPORTATION

OFFICE OF THE SECRETARY

WASHINGTON, D.C.

Issued by the Department of Transportation

on the 13th day of March 2015

Fareportal, Inc., d/b/a CheapOair

Docket OST 2015-0002

Violations of 49 U.S.C. § 41712 Served March 13, 2015

CONSENT ORDER

This order concerns violations by Fareportal, Inc., d/b/a CheapOair (Fareportal) of the 

statutory prohibition against unfair and deceptive practices, 49 U.S.C. § 41712. This 

consent order directs Fareportal to cease and desist from future similar violations and 

assesses the company a compromise civil penalty of $185,000.

Applicable Law

As a ticket agent,

1 Fareportal is subject to 49 U.S.C. § 41712, which grants the 

Department broad authority to prohibit unfair or deceptive practices or unfair methods of 

competition in air transportation. The Department has long held that providing erroneous

and misleading information in connection with fare advertisements to be an unfair and 

deceptive practice. For example, holding out a flight as being non-stop when it in fact 

contains one or more stops and advertising a flight as being operated by one carrier when 

it is in fact operated by another carrier are unfair and deceptive practices. 

Facts

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

Office) of Fareportal’s website, www.cheapoair.com, revealed erroneous and misleading 

information in connection with fare advertisements. Specifically, the Enforcement Office 

 1

 A “ticket agent” is defined as “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(45).
2

found that the fare matrix2 shown in response to consumer flight search requests 

displayed erroneous information. The fare matrix falsely displayed that the same carrier 

operated both the outbound and return flights when in fact a different carrier operated one 

of the legs. In addition, the fare matrix erroneously displayed flights as being non-stop 

when they in fact had multiple stops. By advertising erroneous and misleading flight 

information on www.cheapoair.com, Fareportal violated 49 U.S.C. § 41712. 

Mitigation

In mitigation, Fareportal states that it does not believe any of the above circumstances 

warrant enforcement action and asserts that none of the alleged facts resulted in any 

actual consumer harm. Fareportal states that immediately upon learning of the 

Department’s concerns, it acted proactively and cooperatively with the Department to 

comprehensively address them. Fareportal states that upon review, it did not uncover any 

evidence of consumer complaints regarding its fare matrix tool. Fareportal explains that 

the customer had full view of the detailed itinerary on the same page as the fare matrix 

tool and could not transact with the site without reviewing the detailed flight information 

at least twice. Fareportal states that nevertheless, it made significant changes to its search 

features and other functionality to ensure that all concerns have been fully resolved to the 

Department’s satisfaction. Fareportal further states that it believes the fare matrix tool is 

user-friendly and provides the maximum flexibility to consumers whose prevailing 

consideration when purchasing tickets is price 

Decision

The Enforcement Office has carefully considered the information provided by Fareportal, 

but continues to believe enforcement action is warranted. The Enforcement Office and 

Fareportal have reached a settlement of this matter in order to avoid litigation. Without 

admitting or denying the violations described above, Fareportal consents to the issuance 

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

assessment of $185,000 in compromise of potential civil penalties otherwise due and 

payable pursuant to 49 U.S.C. § 46301.

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

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

to future similar unlawful practices by Fareportal and other carriers.

This order is issued under the authority contained in 14 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 The fare matrix appears at the top of the “Itinerary Display” web page and provides a summary of flight 

options, such as carrier, number of stops, and price. Consumers can use the fare matrix to filter the search 

results. Detailed flight itineraries appear below the fare matrix. 
3

2. We find that Fareportal, Inc., d/b/a CheapOair engaged in unfair and deceptive 

practices and unfair methods of competition in violation of 49 U.S.C. § 41712(a) by 

advertising misleading and deceptive flight information in its fare matrix; 

3. We order Fareportal, Inc., d/b/a CheapOair its successors, its affiliates, and all other 

entities owned by, controlled by, or under common ownership and control with 

Fareportal, Inc., d/b/a CheapOair, its successors, its affiliates, and its assigns to cease 

and desist from further violations of 49 U.S.C. § 41712;

4. We assess Fareportal, Inc., d/b/a CheapOair $185,000 in compromise of civil 

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

paragraphs 2 and 3, above. Of this total penalty amount, $92,500 shall be due and 

payable within thirty (30) days of the date of issuance of this order. The remaining 

portion of the civil penalty amount, $92,500 shall become due and payable 

immediately if, within one year of the date of issuance of this order, Fareportal, Inc., 

d/b/a CheapOair violates this order’s cease and desist provisions or fails to comply 

with the order’s payment provisions, in which case Fareportal, Inc., d/b/a CheapOair

may be subject to additional enforcement action for violation of this order; and

5. We order Fareportal, Inc., d/b/a CheapOair to pay the penalty through Pay.gov to the 

account of the U.S. Treasury. Payments shall be made in accordance with the 

instructions contained in the Attachment to this order. Failure to pay the penalty as 

ordered shall subject Fareportal, Inc., d/b/a CheapOair 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.

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:

BLANE A. WORKIE

Assistant General Counsel for

 Aviation Enforcement and Proceedings

An electronic version of this document is available at 

www.regulations.gov