DOT fines AirTran $60,000 for unclear advertising

If it were a scene from one of Southwest Airlines' ubiquitous TV commercials that poke fun at the carrier's competition, a stripe-shirted referee would have rushed in to cry "Foul!"

Another airline was guilty of hiding costs in the fine print, the U.S. Department of Transportation said Wednesday.

AirTran Airways last fall advertised online $59 one-way fares. There were a couple of asterisks but not enough elaboration. The ads said that additional taxes, fees and exclusions would apply, the DOT said, but there was no explanation of what those taxes or fees amounted to until a would-be passenger clicked on the ad and then scrolled to the bottom of the page, where the information appeared in fine print.

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Peter Wallsten, Philip Rucker 06 Jan, 2012

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Source: http://feeds.washingtonpost.com/click.phdo?i=3a357ada99f4d85ee3255846142ef4c0
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