Spirit Airlines fined over price advertising

WASHINGTON

Spirit Airlines Inc. was fined $50,000 for failing to list all fees and taxes on its tickets this summer, although half the penalty will be dropped if the airline avoids breaking the rules for a year.

The Department of Transportation said Monday that Spirit tweets, billboards and posters violated full-fare advertising rules that require airlines to state the full price owed by the consumer, including charges imposed by the airline.

The department said that for a short time in June, a Spirit truck-borne billboard and posters advertising flights from Los Angeles had an asterisk next to the price, leading viewers to small print that warned of additional taxes, fees and conditions -- but didn't give a figure for the charges.

Spirit also tweeted about fares of $9 each way, but Twitter users had to follow a link to learn there could be additional fees, and click on another link to learn the amount of the fees and taxes.

In a consent agreement, Spirit said the omissions were accidental.