Spirit Airlines takes the DOT to court

Spirit Airlines (Fort Lauderdale/Hollywood) has filed an appeal with the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit against the Department of Transportation (DOT) and certain new rules concerning air fares and added costs. Spirit issued the following statement:

“Spirit Airlines, Inc. has announced it was appealing certain aspects of the recent Department of Transportation (DOT) rules that promise to raise significantly the cost of travel to consumers and hamper our nation’s economic recovery. As is well known, Spirit is committed to providing the lowest cost travel option to its customers. Spirit will continue to resist efforts by regulators that go beyond reasonable consumer protections to impose higher costs on airlines without corresponding benefits to the traveling public, costs which inevitably are passed along to consumers through higher prices.

Keeping air travel prices low is one of the most important catalysts for driving our economic recovery, particularly for small and medium-sized businesses that create much-needed new jobs. Conversely, raising travel costs to consumers through ill-considered regulatory initiatives will have a leveraged negative effect on economic growth.

Among other things, Spirit’s challenge to the new DOT rules covers:

1. The so-called “full fare rule” which overturns regulation in place for more than 25 years and hides from consumers the enormous government tax burden on air travel.

2. The proposal to require airlines to hold fares for 24 hours after booking without payment, an idea that will generate massive abuse and force airlines to raise ticket prices as they compensate for the “spoilage” of unpaid but blocked seats
the proposed price freeze for non-ticket services from the time of the initial purchase of a ticket by a customer, even though the customer has not yet purchased or paid for such services, a proposal that also will force airlines to increase fees to cover their business risk.”

The appeal was filed with the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit.

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Copyright Photo: Bruce Drum. Please click on the photo for additional information.