By David Shepardson
WASHINGTON (Reuters) – A U.S. Senate panel on Tuesday criticized rising airline charges for seat assignments and baggage and can name air service executives to testify on Dec. 4.
Senator Richard Blumenthal, who chairs the Everlasting Subcommittee on Investigations, will convene a listening to titled “The Sky’s the Limit — New Revelations About Airline Fees” with senior executives from American Airways (NASDAQ:), United Airways Delta Air Traces (NYSE:) , Spirit Airways (OTC:) and Frontier to testify.
Blumenthal’s report disclosed the 5 airways collectively earned $12.4 billion in income from seat charges between 2018 and 2023 and stated final yr for the primary time United earned $1.3 billion in seat charges — greater than the $1.2 billion it earned from checked bag charges, the report stated.
Blumenthal’s panel spent a yr investigating, discovering carriers are more and more utilizing algorithms to set charges, concentrating on pricing based mostly on buyer info and stated some carriers could also be avoiding federal transportation excise taxes by labeling some fees as nontaxable charges.
His committee discovered ultra-low value carriers Frontier and Spirit paid $26 million to gate brokers and others between 2022 and 2023 to catch passengers allegedly not paying for bag charges or having outsized gadgets.
Frontier personnel can earn as a lot as $10 for every bag a passenger is compelled to test on the gate, the report stated.
Frontier stated: “the commission for gate agents is simply designed to incentivize our team members to ensure compliance with bag size requirements so that all customers are treated equally and fairly.” Spirit and United didn’t remark.
Airways for America, a commerce group, stated the non-compulsory charges that prospects can select, including common home round-trip fares, together with charges, had been 14% decrease in 2023 actual phrases versus 2010.
Delta stated it’s dedicated to “providing a choice of fare products that best meets our customers’ specific travel needs.”
Blumenthal stated Congress ought to require airways to offer extra detailed charge disclosures. He stated the USDOT ought to examine potential abuses in incentive-based assortment of charges.
Airways sued to dam USDOT’s new rule on upfront disclosure of airline charges, whereas airline CEOs in 2018 efficiently lobbied towards bipartisan laws to mandate “reasonable and proportional” baggage and alter charges.
