OTTAWA - The U.S. Department of Transportation announced Thursday it has fined Air Canada for breaking the laws against deceptive price advertising.
"When passengers buy an airline ticket, they have a right to know how much they will have to pay," said U.S. Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood in a statement. "We take our airline price advertising rules seriously and will take enforcement action when they are violated."
For an unspecified period early this year, advertisements on Air Canada's websites "did not disclose the amount of taxes and fees that passengers would have to pay in addition to the advertised fare, or lead the consumer directly to the information on these taxes and fees," the department's Aviation Enforcement Office found.
It said when customers clicked on the ads they were taken to a web page displaying routes and prices, but details of additional taxes and fees could only be found in the fine print at the bottom of the page.
"As soon as the U.S. Department of Transportation advised us of their concern regarding the way information was displayed on one of our ads on several U.S. websites, we looked into this immediately and, within 24 hours, had the banner ads modified to improve clarity," Air Canada spokeswoman Isabelle Arthur said in an e-mailed statement, calling it an "isolated occurrence."
Department of Transportation rules, which apply to both domestic and foreign carriers, require any advertising that includes an air fare to state the full price the customer will pay, including all surcharges. Government-imposed taxes and fees, such as the passenger facility fees, currently exempt from the pricing rules, will have to be included in the advertised ticket price beginning Jan. 24, 2012.
Canada passed a law four years ago requiring airlines to advertise the full price of airfares, but the federal government signalled last month that the legislation may be too complicated to enact.
The legislation to update key sections of the Canada Transportation Act to require airlines include all extra fees, surcharges and taxes in its advertising, received all-party support in June 2007. A last-minute amendment in the Senate stipulated that the federal cabinet set the date for the new rules to come into effect, and the Conservative government has yet to do so.
In a statement to Postmedia News in June, Transport Canada said the government is "aware that this provision of the legislation remains outstanding," and hinted the file may be too tricky to resolve.
"The government wants to do what's best for consumers, while also ensuring there's no confusing information in the marketplace. Differences in provincial regimes permit tour operators and travel agents to advertise differently from airlines, which could be confusing for consumers."
Canada's airlines maintain it would be unfair to require them to advertise the final cost of a ticket because some foreign carriers could continue to advertise base fares on their websites, from which Canadian travellers can make purchases.
