Airlines to be fined for failure to show total price

By Yun Suh-young

Airline companies will be fined from next year if they don’t include the fuel surcharges and airport taxes in their total flight fares.

The Ministry of Land, Transport, and Maritime Affairs said Wednesday it will propose a revision to the Aviation Law to make it mandatory for airline companies to state total fares with taxes on their advertisements or homepage. The revision is currently under review by the Ministry of Government Legislation.

If the revision is approved by the National Assembly, airline companies will face fines for false advertising if they omit information.

Under the current law, airline companies that violate their security responsibilities are fined 100 million won.

The revision proposal comes because an increasing number of customers have complained and requested refunds due to discrepancies between advertised fares and actual prices.

According to the Korea Consumer Agency, there are surging numbers of customers who request refunds after paying hundreds of thousands of won more for flight tickets than were originally advertised.

From now on, when customers ticket online, the total fares must be added up when they enter their trip schedule.