The U.S. Department of Transportation for the first time has fined an airline for failing to disclose fees associated with the redemption of vouchers after passengers voluntarily leave overbooked flights.
In the precedent-setting case, American Airlines was fined $90,000.
The DOT found that American Airlines did not disclose when awarding vouchers that they couldn't be redeemed on AA.com, and that passengers would have to pay a fee to redeem the vouchers at airport ticket counters or over the phone.
The fees could be as high as $30, the DOT said.
"American stopped requiring fees for tickets purchased by phone using vouchers about four years ago but continued to require fees for tickets acquired at airport counters until late last year, and even today passengers cannot use bumping vouchers to purchase tickets online," the DOT said.
The DOT also criticized the airline for failing to disclose that if they used vouchers to purchase tickets over the phone then they would have to mail them to the airline up to three weeks before their departure date.