I’m having second thoughts about the Department of Transportation’s new regulation requiring airlines to include fees and taxes in their advertised prices.

I believe in transparency, and at first glance, I interpreted this particular portion of the DOT regulation as a step toward honest pricing.

Then I got to thinking. Given government taxes plus airport usage fees plus post-9/11 security fees, the actual price of a ticket can almost double from the time we click “buy” to the time we are informed of the total price — including actual air fare, taxes and fees. (And I’m not even taking into consideration the growing roster of ancillary fees for checked bags, seat assignments and carry-on bags.)

If, as consumers, we become accustomed to the bottom-line price of air travel including government fees and taxes without seeing a breakdown of those fees, are we giving the government free rein to quietly build in new or increased fees and taxes?

I don’t know, but consider this the next time you pull into a gas station. Without reading the fine print, do you have any idea what the price-per-gallon breakdown is in terms of cost versus government taxes?

— Lisa Matte, editor-in-chief