Pacific Delight Tours, Inc.

Order 2008-2-13
OST-2008-0031 - Consent Order

Issued and Served February 7, 2008

Consent Order

This consent order concerns violations by Pacific Delight Tours, Inc. of the requirements of the Department’s full fare advertising rule, 14 CFR 399.84. Pacific Delight failed to include fuel surcharges, where applicable, in air tour prices it listed in a number of print advertisements and on its website and failed to provide adequate disclosure of additional charges and fees, such as taxes and other fees that may be listed separately. These omissions, moreover, violated 49 U.S.C. § 41712, the statutory provision prohibiting unfair and deceptive trade practices and unfair methods of competition. This order directs Pacific Delight and its affiliated companies to cease and desist from future similar violations and assesses $20,000 in compromise civil penalties.

In an advertising program in early 2007, Pacific Delight promoted several of its air tours to China in the Washington Post, International Travel News, Travel and Leisure and other publications. These advertisements failed to include the airline fuel surcharge in the advertised price and failed to make any mention of additional fees and taxes. The advertisements, in some cases, advised consumers to check the company’s web site for departure dates and special offers, without giving any indication of the existence or the amount of added charges or surcharges. In other cases, advertisements stated that taxes were additional but gave no information on their amount and made no mention of fuel surcharges. On the website itself, although the fuel surcharge was identified, it was listed separately, rather than included in the base fare as required by the Department. Moreover, the additional taxes permitted to be stated separately were not prominently disclosed through a hyperlink or in text next to the pertinent fare, as required by section 399.84 and the Department’s enforcement case precedent. Information on additional taxes (and the fuel surcharge) was, instead, placed in a hyperlink labeled “Notes, Terms and Conditions,” which did not provide the conspicuous display required by the Department. As a further matter, in response to telephone inquiries placed by the Enforcement Office, the company’s reservations agents were at least initially unable to provide full fare information on the additional charges. In mitigation, Pacific Delight states that the errors in its print advertisements and on its website were inadvertent and not intended to mislead consumers.

By: Rosalind Knapp

http://www.pacificdelighttours.com/