The Supreme Court, under Chief Justice John Roberts, on Monday upheld the Department of Transportation ruling, which was put in place early last year that require airlines to include taxes in their advertised fares.
Though the battle has been lost, the airlines still feel that the ruling is not justified and not only violates their free-speech rights, but restrict other revenue options.
However, with the Supreme Court in favor of the rule, all airlines, now, according to federal law, have to to display the total cost of a ticket-inclusive of taxes-in the largest type size possible and in the most-prominent placement.
The airlines will still be able to break down the price of a ticket to show taxes and fees, but not in a way that trumps the tax-inclusive price.
"Airlines said [that thanks to this rule, it will] prevent companies from emphasizing the impact of fees and taxes," Bloomberg News writes in its coverage of the decision.
This issue was brought to the Supreme Court due to appeal made by Spirit Airlines, which was supported by fellow low-cost operators Allegiant Air and Southwest Airlines.
According to Bloomberg News, Spirit, Southwest and Allegiant, stated during their argument against the "unfair" ruling, that the DOT is trying to prevent them "from drawing clear and conspicuous attention to truthful information about the significant tax burden on airline tickets, at a time when the administration is pushing to raise those taxes even higher."
The Supreme Court not only refused to overturn the DOT on the matter, but also held firm to another DOT sanction that gives customers a 24-hour window to cancel just-purchased airline tickets without penalty. Though, according to a USA Today report, "tickets bought for flights within 24 hours are exempted from that requirement."
This article is copyrighted by Travelers Today, the travel news leader
