AIR NEW ZEALAND FINED FOR FAILING TO DISCLOSE CODE SHARING

AIR NEW ZEALAND FINED FOR FAILING TO DISCLOSE CODE SHARING

   Air New Zealand has been assessed a $45,000 civil penalty for failing to disclose code-sharing arrangements in its advertisements and during calls to reservation agents.

   Code sharing is a marketing arrangement in which an airline puts its code on the flights of another airline to coordinate services and advertise and sell the other airline’s services as its own.

   DOT rules require the disclosure of code sharing arrangements and the identity of the carrier providing the actual service.

   The penalty resulted from an advertisement of Oct. 8, 2000 listing an airfare from Chicago to Auckland, New Zealand, through Los Angeles. The ad failed to note that United Airlines was the carrier providing the service from Chicago to Los Angeles.

   This is the second time Air New Zealand has been found to be in violation of the code-share disclosure rules. In 1994, the carrier was fined $10,000 for code-sharing violations.