It seems that the United States Transportation Department has said that United Airlines must pay a $30,000 fine for failing to include a federal tax when it quoted some airfares on its websites. The government said that on Friday, United Airlines omitted a 7.5 percent federal tax from some search results on its website. The tax was left out of the fare prices for about two and a half days.

The United States government has rules that require most mandatory taxes and fees to be included in the quoted price of the tickets. Back in August, the Department of Transportation fined United Airlines $75,000 for other advertising violations as well. Thus, this is not the the first time that United Airlines has been hit by one of these kinds of fines.

With the last fee that United Airlines had to pay, the carrier only ended up having to pay half of it. This is because they had no other violations. However, the United States government now says that United Airlines will have to pay the other half of the civil penalty, or $37,500.

Many airlines have been getting hit with different kind of fees like this from not only the government but from airports as well. What makes it worse is the fact that airlines are trying their best to start this new year off right.

Last year, airlines found themselves struggling to stay out of the red. However, falling passenger numbers, caused by the swine flu and economic downturn, made it hard for airlines to turn a profit. Although United will have no problem paying the fine, it’s not a fine that the airline really wanted to pay in the first place.