Deregulation being what it is (i.e., the law), it was appropriate
for the Transportation Department to rule last week that it's OK
for airlines to have "Internet-only" fares. Other merchants in the
American marketplace offer various goods and services that are only
available in particular outlets, so why not airlines?
Some products, as late-night TV viewers will attest, are "not
sold in stores." Some travel suppliers make their products
available only through travel agents. Fair's fair: The DOT
concluded there is nothing wrong about an airline fare being
available exclusively on the Internet.
But the DOT's order didn't end there. The DOT also took the
opportunity to "put airlines and travel agents on notice of their
compliance responsibilities," a sobering thought.
The DOT said airline reservationists have an obligation to
disclose to telephone callers, either directly or through a
recording, that lower fares might be available at the airline's Web
site. But the DOT drew the line there, saying travel agents are not
obligated to provide this information. It would be unreasonable,
the DOT said, to require agents to respond to requests for the
"lowest fare" with information about fares that they, as agents,
are not authorized to sell.
The DOT made the right call here, but we're not so comfortable
with the notion that a federal agency is in the position to make
this decision in the first place.
Here are the DOT's exact words: "When a telephone caller asks a
travel agent for the lowest fare in a city pair, the travel agent
must quote the lowest fare that he or she is able to sell as an
agent of the carrier; to do otherwise is deceptive."
So you're a travel agent. You're trying to run a business. The
phone rings. Somebody wants to know the lowest fare to Topeka,
Kan.
Do you really need the federal government to tell you what to do
here?