By
Cat Viglienzoni - July 15, 2010
The government's watchdog organization is pushing for airlines
to disclose all their extra fees early in the ticketing process so customers
can better compare deals. They said airline carriers often do not include fee
information to travel agents and "are not likely to disclose them unless
compelled to do so."
Director of civil aviation issues in the Government
Accountability Office Gerald Dillingham testified in a House Transportation subcommittee hearing that those fees are often not fully disclosed, which puts
consumers who are looking for the best fare prices at a disadvantage. The GAO
wants airlines to have to reveal all their fees up front.
"We do not think that it would be a tremendous burden on
the airlines to provide the kind of information in a way that customers could
make meaningful comparisons," he said.
Robert Rivkin, general counsel in the Department of
Transportation, agreed that airlines need to be clearer about their charges.
"We believe consumers should have complete information about
the full cost of their trip at the time they make their decisions about travel,"
he said.
Some of the additional charges consumers can encounter
include fees for booking by phone, child escort fees, baggage fees, pet carrier
fees and charges for amenities like blankets, internet access, headphones or
food. Fees are increasingly being used as a way to offset other rising costs
like fuel.
Some lawmakers said they felt these charges were going
too far. House Transportation Committee Chairman Representative James Oberstar
(D., Minn.) warned that if the "backdoor price increase" becomes
unreasonable, they will intervene.
"If you don't exercise self-restraint, then you're going
to get pushed back from traveling public, it'll come to the Congress, and then the
Congress will act," he said. "And that's not a threat - that's history."
Airlines garnered $7.8 billion in fees last year, up from
the $5.5 billion in 2008, according to the U.S. Bureau of Transportation
Statistics. Lawmakers are considering taxing this revenue because under the
current rules, fees are exempt from the 7.5 percent tax currently imposed on
the passenger fares. If the tax were applied to baggage fees alone - which brought
in $2.5 billion last year - the government would receive another $186 million
in taxes that would fund airport renovations and construction.
But the Air Transport Association, a group representing
most major airlines, said the carriers already provide a comprehensive list of
fees. The fees are listed online, but many consumers do not find them or bother
to search the fine print. Even airlines that support the unbundling of fees are
unlikely to do so if it will put them at a competitive disadvantage.
In June, the Transportation Department proposed new rules
that would increase fee transparency by requiring carriers to show fuel
surcharges in the ticket price and make other fees more prominent on websites.
The rules would also require passengers to be reimbursed for late or lost
luggage.
(Photo
courtesy: AP Images)
