Angry Over Regulation, Spirit Institutes Snarky Fee ($2 D.O.T Unintended Consequences Fee!)

Newser ^ | 2-3-12 | Kevin Spak

[tcrlaf]

"Unintended Consequence Fee" intended to chide Transportation Department

Spirit Airlines is angry over a new Department of Transportation rule—and it's making sure customers know it, by slapping a $2 "Department of Transportation Unintended Consequence Fee" on all tickets. The new rule, which went into effect last week, requires airlines to give customers a full refund, without additional fees, if the customer requests one within 24 hours of booking a flight, USA Today explains.

That may sound innocent, but Spirit insists that it's "costing customers millions," arguing that it will lead to unfilled seats on flights, forcing the airline to spread the resulting costs to other customers.

[tcrlaf]

The whole Spirit Airlines premise is that they offer the ABSOLUTELY lowest fare they can, and you pay for everything else.

They are VERY ANGRY that the DOT is making them hide the Federal Taxes in the air fares, and not force passengers to learn up front how they are getting raped by Government.

[Osage Orange]

When I lived in California.....every gas pump had a sticker on it...giving the info on how much of every gallon was taxed by the State, and the Feds.

I wish every pack of smokes...and every gas / diesel pump in the nation had BIG labels on how much per pack, and per gallon of money were going to the States and Feds.

[Sequoyah101]

We are ALL getting RAPED by the government.

Wecome to obastard land, demorat land and the mob rule of democracy where everybody gets to vote no matter how lazy, feeble minded, greedy, envious or crooked they are.

The United States has become the home of working slaves, the land of the kept and nothing but mob rule.

[BobL]

“They are VERY ANGRY that the DOT is making them hide the Federal Taxes in the air fares, and not force passengers to learn up front how they are getting raped by Government.”

In Europe, the VAT is included in the sticker price. There isn’t any extra tax when you see a sticker. In the states, sales tax is added at the cash register - you get to see it.

Does it matter? Nope, if it mattered the states in this country would not have gotten away with raising the sales tax by about 50% over the past 30 years (from less than 5% to now greater than 8%).