DOT Fines Apple in Campaign to Tighten Up Disclosures
by Michèle McDonaldApple Vacations was caught up in the Transportation Department’s campaign to rein in online travel sellers that fail to disclose code-share information or don’t adhere to price advertising rules.
The tour operator, used by many travel agents for its low-cost packages to sun destinations, was fined $50,000 for code-share disclosure violations. The DOT said Apple Vacations failed to display the corporate names of regional carriers that operated flights on behalf of major airlines.
Apple Vacations told the DOT that the lapse was due to a failure by its GDS provider to properly identify flights that involved code-share segments. Apple’s GDS provider is Worldspan.
The DOT also fined Globester, an online consolidator, and LBF Travel, founded by Michael Thomas, who also founded Onetravel.com and Sprice.com, for failing to include the 7.5% federal excise tax and their own service fees in fares advertised on their websites.
Globester was fined $40,000 and LBF was fined $30,000.
