US Senate Report Seeks Transparency In Air Fares

August 6, 2015

A US Senate report called for greater transparency in air fares after finding that some airline fees, such as change and cancellation penalties and preferred seating, are hiding the true cost of air travel.

The report by the minority staff of the Senate Commerce Committee found, among other issues, that people buying preferred seats on an airline's website are sometimes only shown seats that require additional fees.

"The travelling public is being nickel-and-dimed to death," said Senator Bill Nelson, who is a part of the committee.

"What's worse is that many flyers don't learn about the actual cost of their travel until it's too late."

Airlines globally pocketed USD$38.1 billion in extra fees last year, an increase of more than 1400 percent since 2007, the report said, citing a recent study.

The committee made a number of recommendations to protect passengers such as mandating that airlines state clearly that charges for a preferred seat are optional, make better and earlier disclosures of ancillary fees, and link baggage fees to their costs.

"It would be difficult to find an industry that is more transparent than airlines in their pricing," Airlines for America, the trade group representing major US airlines, said in a statement.

The report comes at a difficult time for US airlines.

The US Justice Department said in early July it is investigating whether carriers worked together illegally to keep fares high by signalling plans to limit flights.

Delta, American, United, Southwest and JetBlue are the subject of a US Transportation Department probe into possible price gouging while train service was disabled after an Amtrak crash in May.

(Reuters)