Hearing

(Dive Travel Business News - July 15, 2010) -- A report released Wednesday by the Government Accountability Office (GAO) indicates that the growing number of airline ancillary fees can be confusing and misleading to consumers and ought to come with better disclosures.

There have been many intended and unintended consequences of the unbundling fees from ticket prices. According to the GAO report: read more »

(Dive Travel Business News - July 14, 2010) -- A U.S. House of Representatives hearing hosted by the US Transportation and Infrastructure's Subcommittee on Aviation will be held today that focuses on the proliferation and disclosure of ancillary airline fees.  The hearing comes about four weeks before the close of a public comment period on a related set of rules proposed by the U.S. Department of Transportation.

Among other things, the proposed DOT rules would require carriers to provide GDSs with information about bag fees and optional services fees. Proposed rules also include details on tarmac delay regulations and data, disclosure of customer service plans, consumer problem rectification, oversales and advertising "full" fares.

"The proliferation of ancillary fees over a relatively short period of time has raised concerns over the costs and transparency of such fees," according to the subcommittee. "Often, consumers are not entirely aware of the range of fees that they may encounter in the ticket booking process, at check-in and at the gate." read more »