The U.S. Department of Transportation is proposing to scrap the font-size and prominence requirements in its 2011 Full Fare Advertising Rule, a change that would let airlines display taxes, fees and other add-on charges as prominently as the total ticket price rather than in smaller type. The public comment period on the proposal, already extended once, closes August 21, 2026, according to the DOT.
What Does the Current Full Fare Rule Require?
Adopted in 2011, the Full Fare Advertising Rule requires airlines and ticket agents to state the complete price of air transportation — including all mandatory taxes and government fees — whenever a fare is advertised. Under the rule as it stands, fare components such as a fuel surcharge or a security fee "may not be displayed prominently" and "may not be presented in the same or larger size as the total price," according to the Department of Transportation's own notice in the Federal Register.
The rule was designed to stop advertisements from headlining a stripped-down base fare in large type while burying taxes and fees in fine print, so a traveler comparing two ads sees one clear number for what they will actually pay. An appeals court upheld the rule after airlines challenged it on First Amendment grounds, the DOT noted in the same notice, without naming the case.
What Would Change Under the DOT's Proposal?
The Department is not proposing to let airlines hide the total price. Under the draft rule, the full fare would still have to be disclosed, but individual components could be shown at the same size and weight as the total. The notice states that fare components "may be displayed with the same prominence as the total price itself, but such charges may not be false or misleading," per the Federal Register filing.
In practice, that removes the specific type-size hierarchy the 2011 rule imposed — the requirement that the bottom-line number visually dominate an ad — while keeping the underlying disclosure and accuracy obligations in place. The proposal is filed under docket DOT-OST-2025-0831 and regulatory identifier RIN 2105-AF37, per the Federal Register notice, and covers advertising and display practices rather than the fares airlines are permitted to charge.
Why Is the DOT Revisiting a Rule an Appeals Court Already Upheld?
The Department is citing shifts in commercial-speech law since 2012 as its main legal rationale, arguing that the Supreme Court "has consistently reviewed commercial speech restrictions more stringently" in the years since the original rule was upheld, according to the Federal Register notice. The DOT also points to a mismatch with the Internal Revenue Code, which the notice says permits taxes to be displayed "at least as prominently" as other price components — a standard the 2011 rule's font-size mandate does not mirror.
The travel-industry publication Skift, which covered the proposal the day it was filed, reported that the plan would repeal the requirement that airlines display the total fare in a larger font than individual components, while the total would still have to appear with prominence equal to the parts, and that the DOT described the change as providing greater flexibility in how fares are displayed while still keeping information clear for consumers.
| Element | Current 2011 rule | DOT's 2026 proposal |
|---|---|---|
| Total fare disclosure | Required in every advertisement | Still required |
| Font size of total price vs. components | Total must be same size or larger than any component | No minimum size differential specified |
| Prominence of taxes/fees | May not be shown as prominently as the total price | May be shown with equal prominence to the total price |
| Accuracy standard | Advertised price must be accurate | Components "may not be false or misleading" |
Sources: Federal Register notice, "Enhancing Flexibility of Air Fare Price Advertising," and Skift.
What Does This Mean for Travelers Comparing Fares Right Now?
Nothing has changed yet for anyone booking a flight this week. The rule remains in its current form while the DOT reviews public comments, and any final rule would need to be published separately before taking effect. The immediate deadline that matters is procedural: the comment window, originally set to close July 31, 2026, was pushed to August 21, 2026, with the Department writing that "additional time is necessary for individuals and stakeholders to comment on the complex issues in the NPRM, as well as the Department's Regulatory Impact Analysis," according to the DOT's own extension notice.
If the proposal is finalized as written, the practical effect for travelers would be subtler than a price change: fare advertisements could legally present a base fare and its add-on charges in matching type sizes, rather than forcing the bottom-line total to visually dominate the page. The total price would still have to be disclosed and would still have to be accurate under the rule as proposed — what changes is how loudly the components around it are allowed to compete for attention.
For a related airfares perspective, read DOT's Push to Loosen the Full-Fare Airfare Advertising Rule Nears a Decision.