The continuing problem is

When I want to fly to West Overshoe, I don't care that the price includes taxes or fees or surcharges or whatever.

What I care about is 1) how much money am I going to have to give the airline to get on the airplane with the service I believe I will be getting?, and 2) what is that price in relation to the competition? Am I being ripped off because I don't know what the actual final price is?

How much money is coming out of my bank account if I pick this ticket, and how does it compare?

It's that simple.

And yet airlines engage in deceptive practices - imagine that. http://www.dot.gov/a...2012/dot1612.html

[...]

For a period of time in the fall of last year, Finnair displayed three fare advertisements on its website that made no mention of additional taxes and fees that applied to these fares. Instead, once consumers clicked on the advertisements, they were taken to a page on the carrierÂs website where taxes and fees were displayed in the fine print at the bottom of the page. In one of the three advertisements, consumers could not see the fine print unless they happened to scroll to the bottom of the page.

FinnairÂs website violated DOT rules requiring any advertising that includes a price for air transportation to state the full price to be paid by the consumer, including all carrier-imposed surcharges. Until Jan. 26, 2012, government-imposed taxes and fees assessed on a per-passenger basis, such as passenger facility charges, could be stated separately from the advertised fare but had to be clearly disclosed in the advertisement so that passengers could easily determine the full price to be paid. Internet fare listings were permitted to disclose these separate taxes and fees through a prominent link next to the fare stating that government taxes and fees were extra, and the link had to take the viewer directly to information where the type and amount of taxes and fees were displayed.

Under DOTÂs recently adopted consumer rule that enhances protections for air travelers, carriers and ticket agents have been required to include all government taxes and fees in every advertised fare since Jan. 26. DOTÂs airline price advertising rules apply to both U.S. and foreign carriers as well as ticket agents.

Yeah, transparent pricing information that enables price comparison is the 4th Horseman coming to take away our freedoms, or something, if you accept Spirit's line.

Yes, there will still be additional fees above the base fare price. The DOT's rule isn't as good as it should be, but it's a heck of a lot better than what was there before.

FWIW.

I think I'm done.

Cheers,
Scott.

Welcome to IWETHEY!