Airlines sue DOT over new rules requiring disclosure of fees

Don't confuse what "should be" disclosed with what is disclosed. It is a deep, dark hole with no way out .... $10 if you make your reservation by calling, $10 if you want to avoid being the last person to board, $30 for a seat that is larger than a child size potty chair, $50 for checked baggage, $30 for larger carry-on items, $40 if you want to be seated with your family members .... oh what to object to!

In my opinion... If you are charging a Fee... you should disclose what the fee is for...

When any company is afraid of transparency in pricing, beware of price gouging and bait/switch.

I don't see why they are so afraid to list these fees. If they have nothing to hide, then what's the problem?

Ironically, none of the budget carriers - Spirit, Frontier, SWA, Allegiant - who get most of their revenue from said fees are not included in the lawsuit.

What’s legalese for “we want to be shady about what we’re charging people”?

The airline business is a pretty good example of what Scott Adams called a confusopoly.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Confusopoly

All gov't fees and taxes should be shown upfront as well.

North American airfares are much higher than European fares.

Is this suit evidence there is collusion or price fixing by the airlines? .

We need this suit to gobd out

i think Canada added a rule a few years ago that the price shown when searching for flights has to be a "final" price, including all fees and such.
Since then airlines have added more fees for things like overhead storage and picking a seat..
Time for the gov to force them and the search engines to include any of those extra fees as well. Overhead storage for a carry-on should be included in the displayed price as should the cost of a seat choice. (ideally one would initiate a search with the features one wants and get a proper comparison)

Vested interests lobbying. Being opaque increases margins.

Oh, that's easy.. We covered that in our first year at law school. It is: “we want to be shady about what we’re charging people”?
Simple and to the point.

I suspect the reason they don't want to list the fees up front is that when you do a search for flights it is sorted by the base fare without fees. They hook you with the first impression that it's a cheaper flight and hope that once you find out about all the add-ons you won't take the trouble to look for another carrier. It's the classic bait and switch.

We in Europe already get receipt with all the details so why airlines in US are scared?
For example here what we get as info:

Air Transportation Charges:
EUR 93.00
Base fare EUR 93.00

Surcharges
EUR 18.00
International/Domestic Surcharge EUR 18.00

Taxes, fees and charges
EUR 74.30
Airport Passenger And Security Tax EUR 35.00
Air Passenger Duty EUR 14.60
Passenger Service Charge/Departure EUR 24.70

Total price per adult
EUR 185.30
× 1 Adult
EUR 185.30

Extra Services:
Seats Included

VIE <--> LHR
1 Seat
Included

Why not tell what each billing is, “before you Purchase” your ticket? The airlines always tell you what it is “after” you have your ticket. I personally dislike what the airlines do regarding the purchase price of a ticket with all the add-ons.

Every bill passed by Congress should, at the very top of the page, list each and every bit of lobby money and identify exactly who paid how much to each politician. Lobbyists get what they want, not the hard working taxpayers! We need this transparency NOW!!!

No coincidence that they filed in the 5th Circuit, which is the most conservative and anti-regulation circuit in the country. This is the court that gave us the brilliant ruling that the FDA should not have approved the abortion drug Mifipristone on grounds of safety despite a 20-year record of no problems. Ideology trumps expertise.

What the government is asking for, I think, is that charge that airlines make to our reservations, that read: "AIRLINE IMPOSED FEES", which are added to the airfare that they charge to passengers. These are not extra fees for luggage, seat reservations, etc. I would agree with the DOT in this case..... because I am always charged a ridiculous large amount for this type of fees when traveling to Europe.... Check it out and you will see what I mean.... make a dummy reservation to check it out..... Why would airlines charge an EXTRA "imposed fee" when they are already charging a "fare" for the ticket?

What “are” they afraid of?!?! List it all!!! Airport fee, gov’t fee, taxes, baggage, etc, etc, etc. Every flight I’ve been on lately, if they experience any turbulence or “think” there may be some, the snack drink cart stay in its hole. 200+ passengers no coke or peanuts, adds up on multiple flights. Oh, first class still gets theirs, go figure!!

Its not at all surprising that the majors have filed suit against a regulation that disrupts their business model. Travel related businesses that are largely fixed cost in the short run, i.e. airlines, hotels, rental cars, etc. are tough businesses to be in because profit and loss are highly related to volume of sales. Airlines and rental cars, and to a certain extent hotels, are further burdened with being "commodity products", that is for most people airliners are just busses with wings and rental cars are basically interchangeable. Commodity pricing puts a huge downward pressure on price, particularly when consumer travel sites will rank and sort by price. In this environment the ability to obfuscate total price plays to the provider's advantage, because the last thing any of the major carriers wants to compete on is mostly cost. The easier a system makes it for the traveler to compare total cost the greater the downward pressure in pricing. For example, separate bag fees were introduced as a way to goose total revenue in a price oriented system. There is no way it costs the airline $25 to $50 to handle a bag when the infrastructure and labor is already in place, the marginal cost for an extra bag might be a buck or two. Once the inclusive ticket cost was broken out from a separate bag fee it made the ticket "less expensive" in the search engines when doing cost oriented searches. The same principal applies to all the other "hidden fees" charged by airlines and hotels. Sure, the diligent cost oriented traveler can figure out the total cost of a ticket before making a purchase, but that takes time and energy and a lot of folks wont go to the trouble to do so, which plays to the obfuscation's advantage. So the lawsuit is a perfectly logical strategy.

Oddly despite no one liking taxes I have to think that these excessive fees are the result of the government not taxing the total ticket price after fees. I'm sure everyone will find this surprising and nonsensical but follow me here. Only the actual fare is subject to tax, the add-on fees are not taxable. Thus by reducing the ticket price and increasing the fees the company can take money previously paid to the government and keep it for itself. I suspect that if the entire transaction was taxed we'd see more companies bundling in things like free baggage like Southwest does. Now I am sure some will say that's great that the government gets less money but we as customers get less service in the process too.

In Canada, all fees have to be posted before you buy anything, with exception of sales taxes. No surprises!

Transparency is the customers’ guarantee of company integrity. Honest people and/or corporations are not afraid to lay all their cards on the table.

It is amazing to look at the actual “cost” of a ticket, especially with international travel.

What a carrier will receive will at some point be less than all of the taxes and fees (and these aren’t the carriers’, these are domestic and foreign government imposed) …… there is some irony in this latest government move to “protect” consumers.

What would be nice is if all the three letter agencies with “cyber crime” departments getting BILLIONS of our tax dollars, could actually do something about hackers and scammers.

I had a card get hacked on an airline ticket of all things, and neither the bank nor the Feds would have been concerned about ticket fees, there was barely more than a shoulder shrug and a new credit card issued.

I can’t say that I understand the reasons for filing a lawsuit. Don’t airlines operate under the regulations of DOT? And, in many respects, at the pleasure of DOT?

I know Hertz for sure, but maybe all rental companies, do this at least partly now. A 2-day car rental is listed as "$50/day, estimated total for rental is $140". The $140 includes taxes and mandatory fees, but there are still the add ons like the CDW, special equipment (e.g., child safety seats), and pre-pay gas. The difference with the airlines is that a lot of the add-ons are not really separate items with meaningful marginal costs to the airline. Picking your seats, for example, has $0 marginal costs but has been split off by the airlines enhance their profit.

There is nothing "private" about any airline. They serve the common public interest or they shouldn't exist. There is no place for conniving cowboy capitalism in the transportation industry. I'm looking at you Boeing, BNSF, CSX.

Delta One West Palm Beach to Dublin, return from London.

Plenty of junk government fees but we won't talk about that as it's not part of the approved anti-business narrative.


description amount currency
Air Transportation Charges
Base Fare: $2,560.00 USD
Carrier-imposed International Surcharge (YR): $1,910.00 USD


United States - September 11th Security Fee(Passenger Civil Aviation Security Service Fee) (AY) $11.20 USD
United Kingdom - Air Passenger Duty (APD) (GB) $246.30 USD
United Kingdom - Passenger Service Charge (UB) $62.10 USD
United States - Transportation Tax (US) $42.20 USD
United States - Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service Fee (APHIS User Fee - Passengers (XA) $3.83 USD
United States - Passenger Facility Charge (XF) $13.50 USD
United States - Immigration and Naturalization Fee(Immigration User Fee) (XY) $7.00 USD
United States - Custom User Fee (YC) $6.97 USD
Summary of all charges for all passengers, including air-fare, taxes, fees, and other charges
description amount currency

Total Price: $4,863.10 USD

Would be nice if they could get your luggage there begore your vacay is over... Is there afee for that?

A healthy culture promotes awareness of everything, including the culture itself—unhealthy cultures operate believing they're better than its members, lacking self-examination.

Individuals knowing all things about their culture stops tricks, deception, and surprise.

Unhealthy cultures trick, deceive, and surprise.

This satire sums the situation up nicely:
https://youtu.be/uVASZ2lCY5Y?si=fC084VjJNX-blDuj

"IMF Steps Up Its Warning to US Over Spending and Ballooning DebtAnnual report credits unsustainable spending for US growthUS fiscal stance risks global financial instability, IMF says."
The last thing I, or any intelligent person, wants is the United States CONgress interference in private enterprise.

The comments posted on this subject is evidence that in a Consumer-driven Free Market economy, the consumers will use their power of their purse to determine the prudent solutions. The company(s) that are upfront and consumer-oriented will be the winners. As they will get the consumer's business, repeat business and referrals.
All CONgress does is muck up things.

Can't blame them I guess. How much will your ticket end up costing before you actually pay?

No one knows, really, not even the airline. LOL!!!!

Airline CEOs and board members each need a personal visit from an angry Luca Brasi.

What fees AREN'T disclosed? When I fly, I know how to determine exactly what my ticket will cost, including all supplementary fees of which I might partake. My airfare is NEVER a surprise.

We do NOT need government sticking their noses in where they don't belong, just because some incompetent people don't know how to do some basic research, use the internet, or ask relevant questions.

This is part of running a business which government definitely does NOT know how to do. It's none of their business and if they want to know the cost, look it up on the airlines website.