Economist Robert Reich on Tuesday slammed the Trump administration's move to relax rules that govern how airlines market ticket prices — rules that were put in place during the Obama years.
On X, Reich said the Department of Transportation was "planning to roll back a requirement that airlines display total ticket prices more prominently in their advertising." He called it "yet another way Trump is making flying even worse."
The original rule was an "Obama-era rule started in response to complaints from flyers that they felt deceived when buying tickets," Reich noted. The proposed change would scrap the current requirement that the total price be shown in a larger font than individual components like taxes and fees.
The DOT's proposal says the existing font-size rules are "unnecessarily prescriptive" and "should be modified to allow fare components to be displayed as prominently as the total price." The document also floats the possibility of repealing the Full Fare Rule entirely.
This comes as travelers are already feeling the pinch from higher airfares, which have been pushed up by strong demand and ongoing tensions in the Middle East, including the Iran war. Some analysts note that while Trump's peace deal has lowered fuel costs, demand remains healthy, giving airlines little reason to cut prices.
GasBuddy analyst Patrick De Haan pointed to steady demand for air travel in the U.S., saying fares won't come down "until demand dropped" sometime around Fall 2026.
