Order 2010-1-13 

UNITED STATES OF AMERICA 

DEPARTMENT OF TRANSPORTATION 

OFFICE OF THE SECRETARY 

WASHINGTON, D.C. 

Issued by the Department of Transportation 

On the 15th day of January, 2010 

 

United Air Lines, Inc. Docket OST 2010-0005 

 Served January 15, 2010 

Violations of 49 U.S.C. § 41712, 14 CFR 399.84, 

and Order 2009-8-17 

CONSENT ORDER

This consent order concerns violations by United Air Lines, Inc., (UAL) of the full fare 

advertisement requirements specified in 14 CFR Part 399 and the statutory prohibition 

against unfair and deceptive practices, 49 U.S.C. § 41712. Further, UAL is subject to 

Order 2009-8-17,1 in which it agreed to cease and desist from violations of Part 399. The 

instant order directs UAL to cease and desist from future violations of Part 399, section 

41712, and Order 2009-8-17, and assesses the carrier a compromise civil penalty of 

$30,000. 

UAL, as an air carrier, is subject to the advertising requirements of Part 399 of the 

Department’s rules. Under section 399.84 of those rules, any advertising by an air carrier 

that states a price for air transportation is considered to be an unfair or deceptive practice 

or unfair method of competition in violation of 49 U.S.C. § 41712 unless the price stated 

is the entire price to be paid by the customer to the air carrier for such air transportation. 

Under long-standing enforcement case precedent, the Department permits taxes and fees, 

such as passenger facility charges and departure taxes, that are collected by carriers and 

other sellers of air transportation to be stated separately in advertisements, so long as the 

charges are levied or approved by a government entity, are not ad valorem in nature, are 

collected on a per-passenger basis, and their existence and amount are clearly indicated 

so that consumers can determine the full fare to be paid. Thus, the Federal excise tax 

(FET) of 7.5 percent, an ad valorem tax, must be included in initial fare quotes appearing 

on a company’s website. 

For approximately 60 hours on its Internet website, UAL failed to include the FET on the 

initial search results webpage in which air fares were displayed to consumers. After 

 

1

 United Air Lines, Inc., Violations of 49 U.S.C. § 41712 and 14 CFR 399.84, Order 2009-8-17 

(August 25, 2009) 
–2–

being contacted by the Office of Aviation Enforcement and Proceedings (Enforcement 

Office), UAL quickly changed its website to comply with 14 CFR 399.84. By excluding 

the FET from fares at the first point in which those fares were viewable on its website to 

consumers, UAL violated section 399.84 and engaged in an unfair or deceptive practice 

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

This is UAL’s second recent violation of the Department’s full fare advertisement 

regulations. In Order 2009-8-17, issued August 25, 2009, UAL was found to have 

violated 14 CFR 399.84 and 49 U.S.C. § 41712 by publishing air fare advertisements that 

failed to properly hyperlink the excluded taxes in a manner that clearly indicated the 

entire price to be paid by the consumer at the first point at which the fare was displayed 

and by publishing each-way air fares that were available only when bought for roundtrip 

travel without clear and conspicuous disclosure of the roundtrip purchase requirement in 

the advertisement. Order 2009-8-17 directed UAL to cease and desist from further 

violations of the full fare advertisement regulations and assessed UAL a civil penalty of 

$75,000. Under the terms of that order, UAL was required to make an initial payment of 

$37,500 and, if it violated the order within one year, to make an additional payment of 

$37,500. UAL paid the additional $37,500 on December 22, 2009. 

 

In mitigation, UAL states that it is strongly committed to promoting its fares and services 

in a clear and readily comprehensible manner, and that it has cooperated fully with the 

Department in this matter. UAL further states that its failure to include the excise tax in 

the base fare display for this extremely brief period was wholly unintentional and the 

result of an inadvertent programming error. Furthermore, although the excise tax was 

inadvertently excluded from the base fare display, UAL points out that it was included in 

the total price quoted to passengers on all fare displays on its website, and as such 

consumers were ultimately able to clearly identify the total price to be paid for any fare at 

all times. Nevertheless, upon learning of the inadvertent programming error, UAL took 

immediate and extensive action to correct the matter. 

 

The Enforcement Office has carefully considered the information provided by United Air 

Lines, Inc., but continues to believe that enforcement action is warranted. The 

Enforcement Office and United Air Lines, Inc., have reached a settlement of this matter 

in order to avoid litigation. In order to avoid litigation, and without admitting any 

violation, United Air Lines, Inc., consents to the issuance of this order to cease and desist 

from future violations of 49 U.S.C. § 41712, Part 399 of the Department’s regulations, 

and Order 2009-8-17 and to the assessment of $30,000 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 an adequate 

deterrence to future noncompliance with the Department’s advertising requirements by 

United Air Lines, Inc., as well as by other air carriers and foreign air carriers. 
–3–

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

ACCORDINGLY, 

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

 this order as being in the public interest; 

2. We find that United Air Lines, Inc., violated 14 CFR 399.84 by causing to be 

published air fare advertisements that excluded ad valorem taxes from the initial 

fare displays; 

3. We find that by violating 14 CFR 399.84, United Air Lines, Inc., violated the 

cease and desist provisions of Order 2009-8-17; 

4. We find that by violating 14 CFR 399.84 as described in ordering paragraph 2 

and 3, above, United Air Lines, Inc., has engaged in an unfair and deceptive 

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

5. We order United Air Lines, Inc., and all other entities owned or controlled by or 

under common ownership with United Air Lines, Inc., and their successors and 

assignees, to cease and desist from violations of 49 U.S.C. § 41712, 

14 CFR 399.84, and Order 2009-8-17; 

6. We assess United Air Lines, Inc., a compromise civil penalty of $30,000 in lieu of 

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

ordering paragraphs 2 and 3, above, which shall be due and payable within 15 

days from the date of issuance of this order. Failure to pay the penalty as ordered 

shall subject United Airlines, Inc., 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; and 

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

Communication System, commonly known as “Fed Wire,” to the account of the 

U.S. Treasury in accordance with the attached instructions. 

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 on the World Wide Web at 

www.regulations.gov
–4–