President Barack Obama on Tuesday nominated Michael Huerta, acting administrator of the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA), to become the official head of the agency.

“I am very pleased that President Obama has nominated him to lead the FAA as the next Administrator,” Ray LaHood, head of the Department of Transportation, the agency that oversees the FAA, said in a statement. “Michael Huerta has stepped up to the plate and done an exemplary job in leading the largest and safest aviation system in the world."

Prior to taking over the post, Huerta was leading FAA’s NextGen effort that will transition the nation’s antiquated air traffic control system to a satellite-based system.

Huerta has been running the FAA since former chief Randy Babbitt resigned in December over charges of drunken driving.

The Senate must approve Huerta’s nomination before he is officially named FAA Administrator.

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The number of passengers that flew on U.S. airlines increased to 730 million in 2011, up 1.3 percent from the previous year, according to data released by Department of Transportation on Thursday.

Nearly 640 million passengers -- an all-time high -- flew on domestic flights while 92.5 million flew internationally on U.S. airlines.

DOT's report on annual airline traffic also ranked Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International as the most trafficked airport for domestic departures, and Delta and Southwest, respectively, as the airlines that carried the most international and domestic passengers in 2011.

Though the increase in passengers in 2011 was small, the Federal Aviation Administration recently announced that airline passenger travel will double by 2032, reaching 1.2 billion.

In February, DOT released its annual report on airline performance, showing a plateau with few drastic improvements or declines in service. (See: Report: Air travel didn't improve much in 2011)

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When it comes to air travel, 2011 wasn’t the best of times, but it wasn’t the worst of times.

On Tuesday, the Department of Transportation (DOT) released its latest Air Travel Consumer Report (PDF), which includes airline-performance data for both December and the entire year.

Figures for the former showed significant improvement over December 2010 while those for 2011 suggest the industry has leveled out its performance, with fewer drastic improvements or declines in service.

Thanks, in part, to this winter’s mild weather, the nation’s 16 largest airlines operated 84.4 percent of their December flights on time, a record for the month in the 17 years during which the DOT has collected such data. In December 2010, carriers arrived on time just 72 percent of the time.

Cancellations during the month also dropped from December 2010 (from 3.7 percent to 0.8 percent), as did reports of mishandled bags (from 4.72 reports per 1,000 passengers to 3.37 reports), and there were no extended tarmac delays for either domestic or international flights. Passengers apparently took notice: complaints were down from 756 in December 2010 to 710 in December 2011.

Over the course of the year, the industry’s performance was more stable than superb. On-time performance was flat — 79.6 percent vs. 79.8 percent in 2010 — while reports of mishandled bags dropped from 3.51 to 3.39 reports per 1,000 passengers.

Incremental changes aside, however, travelers remain unimpressed with their flying experience. Last year, they filed 11,545 complaints with DOT over flight problems, mishandled bags and other issues compared to 10,988 in 2010, an increase of 5 percent. (Both figures include complaints against U.S. and international airlines, tour operators and travel agents but not complaints filed with the travel providers themselves.)

Little wonder, then, that the industry continues to fare poorly in the public eye. “There was a bit of a falling-off in customer satisfaction from the previous year,” said David VanAmburg, managing director of the American Customer Satisfaction Index (ACSI), which has tracked the airline industry since 1994. “On a scale of 100, they dropped from a 66 to a 65.”

The problem, at least in part, is one of perception. “You can say that the quality of the experience has been declining in the sense that what we used to get (for example, complimentary meals, free checked bags), we don’t get any more yet we’re not paying any less,” said VanAmburg.

“If the airlines were charging us more and offering more perks — or taking away perks but giving us a break on the price — then we might see different numbers,” he told msnbc.com.

In fact, consumers’ unhappiness over fares and fees is so strong, it’s negating their positive impressions of airline service, said Jessica McGregor, global account manager at J.D. Power and Associates.

McGregor said customer rating of overall airline services such as boarding, reservations and check-in had actually improved last year. “Cost and fees was the only area to show a decline from 2010 to 2011,” she said. “People are feeling nickel and dimed.”

In terms of customer satisfaction going forward, said McGregor, “Things are looking pretty stable from last year but satisfaction over costs and fees continues to trend downward.”

Barring a long-term improvement in on-time performance, a significant drop in mishandled bag rates or the surprise elimination of those much-hated fees, the relationship between airlines and passengers will likely follow a similar path.

Rob Lovitt is a longtime travel writer who still believes the journey is as important as the destination. Follow him at Twitter.

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Thanks to new rules regarding airfare advertising, what you see is now what you pay. But it may not be for long.

At least that’s the hope of Rep. Tom Graves (R-Ga.), who plans to introduce legislation on Wednesday seeking to overturn the recently implemented Department of Transportation (DOT) rule requiring airlines to include all taxes and government fees in posted fares.

It is, as baseball great Yogi Berra once said, déjà vu all over again.

Consider recent history:

On Thursday, a DOT rule mandating that the first price consumers see in airfare advertising include all taxes and mandatory fees went into effect.

In response, Spirit Airlines launched a campaign and website saying the rule was an effort, not to disclose those fees, but to hide them.

Shortly thereafter, Sen. Barbara Boxer (D-Calif.) sent Spirit CEO Ben Baldanza a letter, expressing her “concern with Spirit Airlines’ deliberate attempt to deceive the flying public.”

And on Monday, Rep. Graves announced his intention to introduce the Travel Transparency Act in an effort to overturn the DOT rule.

“The federal government should not be inserting itself in the private sector to limit consumers’ ability to see how much they’re getting taxed,” said the Congressman in a statement. “If the American people can’t see these costs clearly, I fear it will be easier [for] these fees and taxes to be raised without their knowledge.”

Semantic battles aside, it seems the new rule is not just about travel – it’s also something of a litmus test for where one stands on the whole big government vs. small government future of America front.

“It always comes back to what’s F-A-I-R,” said Joe Brancatelli, publisher of the business-travel website JoeSentMe.com. “Both sides have merit but the airlines brought this on themselves because they kept burying stuff that you must pay and kept it out of the fares they were advertising. DOT acted because they had to.”

Whether Congress will do the same regarding Graves’ proposed bill is less clear, especially given the gridlock currently gripping the nation’s capital. Even if it were to make it out of the Republican-controlled House, there’s little chance the bill would pass muster with the Democratic-controlled Senate or the White House.

Which is not necessarily a bad thing, says Charlie Leocha, director of the Consumer Travel Alliance: “This sort of thing shouldn’t be legislated,” he told msnbc.com. “It should be handled through the regulatory process because it needs to be worked on by people who understand what’s going on in the industry.”

Instead, says Leocha, Congress should focus on the FAA Reauthorization Bill, which has relied on stopgap funding since its last reauthorization expired in 2007. Unable to come to agreement since, Congress approved its latest stopgap measure — its 23rd — on Thursday, extending the agency’s temporary funding until Feb. 17.

As if on cue, House and Senate negotiators on Tuesday reached an agreement that will provide operating authority for the FAA for the next four years. The bill is expected to pass through both arms of Congress in the next two weeks.

Consumer advocates may be disappointed that the bill does not include language protecting the tarmac-delay rules enacted last year by DOT. Those rules levy fines on carriers when domestic and international flights sit on the runway for three and four hours, respectively. Whether that regulation, which remains in effect, should be codified into law is yet another point of contention, but it’s a safe bet that the fight over passenger protections, the free market and the government’s role in the airline industry isn’t going away any time soon.

In fact, a little more fuel was added to the fire on Tuesday when Spirit responded to another DOT rule mandating the airlines allow passengers to “hold” a reservation for 24 hours without penalty, a move the carrier believes will have unintended consequences and cost consumers millions.

Their response? A $2 DOTUC fee — as in Department of Transportation Unintended Consequences — on every flight starting Jan. 31. Per DOT rules, the fee is included in the first price consumers see but it also promises to rekindle yet another debate.

Which, once again, reminds us of the wisdom of that other late, great master of unconventional logic. In air travel, as in baseball, It ain’t over ‘til it’s over.

Do you think the government should be involved in passenger protection measures? Tell us what you think on Facebook.

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Rob Lovitt is a longtime travel writer who still believes the journey is as important as the destination. Follow him at Twitter.

keepmyfareslow.org

Think the fight over the new rule from the Department of Transportation (DOT) requiring airlines to include all taxes and fees in their posted fares is over?

Think again. Even though the new rule took effect Thursday, it seems the battle is as intense as ever. Consider:

On Tuesday, Spirit Airlines, which is currently contesting the rule in court, launched a website called KeepMyFaresLow.org with the headline: Warning: New government regulations require us to HIDE taxes in your fares.

That brought a swift denunciation from Kevin Mitchell, chairman of the Business Travel Coalition, an advocacy group for corporate travel buyers. “With this ill-considered attack on DOT, Spirit Airlines has reached a new low and no doubt secured the poster-child crown for 2012 for misleading consumers.”

Not so, countered Spirit CEO Ben Baldanza. “Our view is that fares should be transparent and clear and that you should know what you’re paying your airline and what you’re paying in taxes,” he told msnbc.com.

And then raising the specter of even higher taxes in these tax-averse times, he suggested the move toward full-fare advertising was “an insidious way to then raise taxes on consumers” across the board.  

“If the government is successful with this, it’s coming to everything you buy — for cars, in restaurants, at big-box stores,” he said.

That ominous warning aside, the bottom line is that the new rule went into effect on Thursday. Airlines are, indeed,  required to post fares that include all taxes and mandatory government fees. However, they can also post information that shows the breakdown between the airline’s and the government’s respective portions.

“Nothing in our rule will prohibit a carrier from informing consumers that the fare includes a specified amount of taxes and government fees, as long as the stated fare includes those taxes and fees,” said DOT spokesman Bill Mosley. “The carrier can then break out taxes and fees if it wishes.”

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Rob Lovitt is a longtime travel writer who still believes the journey is as important as the destination. Follow him at Twitter.

Score one for truth in advertising.

Travelers shopping for air travel no longer have to click through multiple web pages — or read the fine print in newspaper ads — to find out what their plane tickets truly cost. Instead, the first price posted must include all taxes and mandatory fees. 

“We believe consumers need to be able to see the entire price they will have to pay the first time an airfare is presented to them,” said Bill Mosley, spokesman for the Department of Transportation.

Such full-fare advertising “is a welcome change,” said Charlie Leocha, director of the Consumer Travel Alliance. “It’s important that consumers at least know the full cost of their trip while they’re looking for it.”

The rule is part of a larger package of passenger protections rolled out by the Department of Transportation (DOT), but the advertising regulation will have the most impact on the greatest number of travelers.

Consider: Last week, an online search at Southwest.com revealed one-way fares between Dallas and Chicago for $84.65, or $169.30 roundtrip. Click on those fares, though, and the actual cost with taxes and fees rises to $218.20.

Even more eye-opening, travelers searching for flights between Fort Lauderdale, Fla., and Las Vegas on Spirit Airlines might be enticed by web fares of $71 each way, or $142 roundtrip. The actual cost? $219.18, which includes $77.18 in taxes and fees.

As of Thursday, the first posted fares for the above itineraries will have to be displayed as $218.20 and $219.18, respectively.

The rule has not been well-received by the airlines. Allegiant, Spirit and Southwest are currently contesting the requirement in court, claiming that requiring airlines to post tax-inclusive fares runs counter to the way most other products and services are sold.

Related: Fight over full-fare rules takes bizarre turn

“There is no justification for treating air travel differently from just about everything else that consumers purchase, i.e., they pay for the price of goods and services and then pay tax,” said Southwest spokesman Chris Mainz via e-mail.  “Forcing airlines to include taxes will also make air travel ‘look' more expensive when in reality it's not.”

There’s also the potential for even more confusion, said Steve Lott, spokesman for the industry trade group Airlines for America. “When people hear ‘fees,’ they think it refers to fees for baggage, Wi-Fi or other airline fees,” he told msnbc.com. “It really just refers to the government fees and taxes.”

Potential confusion and pending lawsuits aside, the airlines are expected to comply with the full-fare advertising rule, as well as several others that took effect on Jan. 24, including a requirement allowing travelers to cancel reservations within 24 hours without penalty and a prohibition against post-purchase price increases.

On the other hand, the airlines received something of a break on pending rules requiring that travelers’ specific bag fees be disclosed on their e-ticket confirmations and mandating fee consistency across multiple carriers on interline and code-share flights.

Earlier this month, DOT denied an industry request to postpone those rules but noted that it would not strictly enforce them for six months.

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Rob Lovitt is a longtime travel writer who still believes the journey is as important as the destination. Follow him at Twitter.

In the fall of 2011, AirTran Airways advertised one-way fares for $59, but failed to provide customers with information about the type or amount of applicable taxes and fees.

That omission, which is a violation of the Department of Transportation's rules for price advertising in air travel, will cost the airline; the DOT fined AirTran $60,000 today as a penalty. 

The airline did note in the advertisement that the fare would include additional taxes and fees, but a consumer could only find those details — presented in fine print — by clicking on the ad and scrolling to the bottom of a page displaying routes and prices.

“Consumers have a right to know the full price they will be paying when they buy an airline ticket,” said U.S. Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood in a statement about the fine.

According to DOT rules, fare advertisements must state the full price to be paid by the customer. Only per-passenger government-imposed taxes and fees are exempted from this rule. When fares are advertised online, fees and taxes must be disclosed through a "prominent" link that takes customers to a pager where that information is clearly presented.

A new DOT rule that requires airlines to disclose all fees, including government fees and taxes, is scheduled to take effect on Jan. 26.

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U.S. DOT

This visualization represents the number of takeoffs at U.S. airports between 1998 and 2010.

You can visualize world peace, whirled peas and even the World Series but can you visualize data?

That’s the question raised by the Data Visualization Student Challenge, a U.S. Department of Transportation (DOT) competition that invited college students to turn reams of dry numbers into visually compelling graphics that could help drive decisions about transportation and infrastructure improvements.

“Visualization allows the data to tell a story,” said Pat Hu, associate administrator and director of DOT’s Bureau of Transportation Statistics. “It can be as simple as a pie chart or bar graph but we wanted to go beyond that.”

To that end, DOT invited students to tackle a transportation issue and show how visualization can uncover actionable information that can help guide decision makers.

“Let’s say you have serious congestion issues and want to add lanes or a [bypass] loop,” said Hu. “These are huge transportation decisions. Data visualization can help you identify the benefits, costs and implications of the different options.”

Consider some of the 18 entries submitted to the challenge:

• Aviation in the U.S., 1998-2010: Analyzing 14 years of flight data, the graphic uses colored circles of various sizes to compare cities’ gains and losses in service. With more flights being routed through fewer hubs, notes the submission, “Delays can increase even though there are fewer airplanes in the sky.”
• Mid-Air Collisions: The study looked at 10 years of flight data to show the roles flight phase and altitude play in mid-air collisions. According to the submission, the results could provide support for decisions regarding new air traffic control systems.
• Economic Development through Infrastructure: The study looked at the long-term impact of the Southwest extension of Denver’s light-rail system. Using ridership and employment data, the team created a map showing the relationship between station locations and job creation.

For Hu, the challenge is both an effort to get transportation issues on students’ “radar screens” and to tap into their familiarity and expertise with graphic communication.

“There’s a lot of talent in the next generation,” she said. “They’re very smart and they have a lot of good ideas but many aren’t exposed to transportation issues. We wanted to reach out and show them that there are some interesting problems than can be solved in this area.”

The winning submissions will be announced on Dec. 16.

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Rob Lovitt is a longtime travel writer who still believes the journey is as important as the destination. Follow him at Twitter. 

You didn’t think those $9 fares were real, did you?

On Monday, the U.S. Department of Transportation (DOT) fined Spirit Airlines $50,000 for using misleading price advertising in a series of billboards, posters and Twitter messages. 

In a statement, DOT noted that when advertising a new Los Angeles service in June 2011, Spirit sent Twitter messages announcing $9 each-way fares and that, in violation of current rules, the amount of additional taxes and fees to be levied were not disclosed until two clicks into the airline’s website.

DOT also noted that billboards and posters that were part of the same campaign had an asterisk next to the advertised fare. Again, in violation of DOT rules, the small print stated that additional taxes, fees and conditions would apply, but did not disclose how much those taxes and fees would be.

With the exception of per-passenger, government-imposed taxes and fees such as passenger facility charges, DOT rules require that airlines include the full price a traveler will pay — including any surcharges to be added by the carrier — when advertising fares. Beginning Jan. 24, 2012, air carriers will be required to include all government taxes and fees in advertised fares as well.

“Consumers have a right to know the full price they will be paying when they buy an airline ticket,” DOT Secretary Ray LaHood said in a statement. “We expect airlines to treat their passengers fairly, and we will take enforcement action when they violate our price advertising rules.”

A Spirit Airlines spokesperson told msnbc.com the carrier has no comment.

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Find more by Harriet Baskas on Stuck at The Airport.com and follow her on Twitter.

The U.S. Department of Transportation (DOT) has fined Orbitz, the online travel agency, $60,000 for violating rules prohibiting deceptive advertising in air travel.

“Consumers have a right to know the full price they will be paying for air fares,” U.S. Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood said in a statement announcing the fine.

According to DOT, the company violated government regulations earlier this year by displaying advertisements on its website that did not adequately disclose required information on additional taxes and fees.

“The rules say they can break taxes and fees out separately but that there must be a prominent link that takes consumers directly to that information,” said DOT spokesman Bill Mosley. “We found that consumers weren’t notified of the charges until they arrived at the following page and scrolled down to the bottom.

“The information was a little harder to find than we’d expect them to make it,” Mosley told msnbc.com.

DOT also determined that the company engaged in deceptive advertising by displaying fares that were no longer available. “We don’t want them to advertise a low fare to lure consumers into a website where they can’t find that fare, but there are higher fares available,” Mosley said.

In accepting DOT’s ruling, Orbitz cited mitigating factors, including “a lack of clear and consistent guidance to carriers and ticket agents” on how to comply with the rule as well as a “data processing” issue that caused older, but unavailable, fares to show up. Orbitz also stated that consumers were warned that unavailable fares were considered “found” fares — that is, low fares recently found by other users — and might no longer be available for purchase.

“Orbitz is in compliance with DOT advertising requirements and the glitch that resulted in how fares were displayed for a short period of time earlier this year has been addressed,” said spokesperson Marita Hudson Thomas.

The issue of deceptive advertising in air travel continues to be a major focus at DOT. In August, the agency fined JetBlue Airways  $50,000 for advertising violations; in September, it took similar action and fined Virgin Atlantic Airways the same amount.

In fact, when other violations, such as code-share disclosures and accessibility issues are included, the agency has assessed $4.8 million in fines in 49 consent orders since Jan. 1, said Mosley.

More fines for violations of advertising regulations are likely in the future given pending rules requiring that all advertised fares include government taxes and fees without making consumers follow links or hunt for fine print.

That rule, initially proposed for later this month, will go into effect Jan. 24, 2012.

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Rob Lovitt is a longtime travel writer who still believes the journey is as important as the destination. Follow him at Twitter.

DOT

The idea of intelligent automobiles is moving into the mainstream.

Are we there yet?

In the near future, the answer may come from a surprising source: Your car.

Previously the province of cheesy TV shows — ah, “Knight Rider,” we hardly knew ye — and a handful of luxury cars, the idea of intelligent automobiles is moving into the mainstream.

“There’s a lot of interest from all aspects of the community,” said Wes Sherwood, spokesperson for the Ford Motor Co. “Business leaders, politicians, the general public — people are starting to get their heads around this.”

“This” is everything from Advanced Driver Assistance Systems (ADAS) — in-car technology that automatically adjusts your cruise control or provides warnings when you drift out of your lane — to so-called “connected cars” that will be able to “talk” to each other and surrounding infrastructure.

“ADAS has been available for years in high-end luxury cars,” said David Alexander, principal analyst, automotive technology, for ABI Research. “All of a sudden, this year, it’s becoming available on a much wider variety of cars.”

Mercedes-Benz

Mercedes-Benz is offering S-Class technology, including blind-spot detection and collision-prevention assistance, in this year's B-Class vehicles.

Examples include the 2012 Ford Focus, which features active parking assistance, and 2012 Mercedes B-Class vehicles, which will boast S-Class features, including blind-spot detection and collision-prevention assistance.

As such systems become more prevalent, they’ll also play a role in the development of Intelligent Transportation Systems (ITS), in which cars actually communicate with other vehicles, traffic lights, railroad crossings, etc.

Although practical systems are still years off, the technology is already being tested. This month, the Department of Transportation (DOT) is conducting clinics in six cities to see how drivers in specially equipped cars respond to in-car warnings regarding potential collisions, “do not pass” alerts and other hazards. The agency is also holding a public meeting/webinar on the subject in Chicago on August 2–3.

The long-term benefits could be significant. “Connected vehicle technology has the potential to address 81 percent of all unimpaired-driver-related crashes,” said Peter Appel, administrator of DOT’s Research and Innovative Technology Administration, in a statement.

On the other hand, the prospect of people paying even less attention to the road than they do now carries its own risks. Just as 4WD and other technologies have given drivers unwarranted confidence in sketchy conditions, intelligent cars may also encourage more stupid behavior.

“These are assistance systems to help the driver,” said Alexander. “They’re looking around, talking to other cars, but they’re not there to allow the driver to text his friends or check his Facebook page. That’s always the danger.”

That, of course, is another issue entirely, and one that may require more intelligence than some drivers will ever be able to muster. In the meantime, somewhere between the self-driving cars currently under development and a glorious Jetsonesque future, there’s no doubt the road ahead will be an increasingly connected one.

“If your smart car is connected to smart businesses and smart infrastructure,” said Sherwood, “then you can start dreaming up almost endless scenarios of how you can make driving more efficient and more enjoyable.”

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Rob Lovitt is a longtime travel writer who still believes the journey is as important as the destination. Follow him at Twitter.