YOUR mother had it right: If it seems too good to be true, it probably is. That goes double for advertised airfares, at least in some parts of the world, including, perhaps, the U.S.
Take low-fare carrier RyanAir (www.ryanair.com), which is based in Dublin, Ireland. Its website recently advertised 17-cent one-way fares to various European destinations.
For The Record
Los Angeles Times Friday August 11, 2006 Home Edition Main News Part A Page 2 National Desk 1 inches; 49 words Type of Material: Correction
Internet Traveler: In Sunday's Travel section, a column about how airlines break out their fares online stated that foreign carriers are not subject to the same rules on airfare advertising as U.S. carriers. For flights sold in the United States, all carriers are subject to the same advertising rules.
For The Record
Los Angeles Times Sunday August 13, 2006 Home Edition Travel Part L Page 3 Features Desk 1 inches; 47 words Type of Material: Correction
Internet Traveler: An Aug. 6 column about how airlines break out their fares online stated that foreign carriers are not subject to the same rules on airfare advertising as U.S. carriers. For flights sold in the United States, all carriers are subject to the same advertising rules.
That meant one could theoretically fly round trip from London to Dublin for 34 cents, less than the cost of a subway ticket within central London. I tried that itinerary and did find 34-cent round-trip fares.
But then came the taxes and fees. For this itinerary, they included $9 for government taxes; $33 for something called "PSC," which a RyanAir customer service agent told me was an airport fee; and $13 for something called an "Ins & Whc levy." This interesting charge pays for the airline's insurance ("Ins") policy and, because it is discriminatory to charge a wheelchair ("whc") passenger to check a wheelchair, all customers are charged a fee to cover the cost.
That 34-cent airfare was now $55.34. But it didn't stop there. Using a credit card to pay for the reservation added $3 per passenger. (It's $1 to use a debit card.) Checking bags -- even one bag -- costs $6 per bag, up to 44 pounds total (which drops to 33 pounds after Nov. 1). More than that and you'll pay $10 per extra pound.
So if you pay for your reservation with a credit card and check a couple of bags, that 34-cent fare is now more than $70. Although that's still arguably a good fare from London to Dublin, it is more than 200 times the advertised fare.
In the U.S., travelers are ostensibly protected against such potentially misleading advertising by a Department of Transportation rule requiring U.S. airlines to fold all of their charges into the so-called base fare in their advertising, whether it's online or in print. They are allowed to exclude only government-imposed taxes and fees, though the actual rule dictates that the "total fare" will be advertised. In enforcing the rule, the DOT has largely ignored that requirement.
The a la carte world of creative airfare advertising may be coming to America.
"The department has decided that the time is ripe after 21 years of marketing innovations for a re-examination of the fare-advertising rule," the DOT said in November in a notice seeking public comment.
