Court Blocks Biden Aministration’s Airline Fee Disclosure Rule

by Mia Taylor
Last updated: 3:25 PM ET, Wed January 29, 2025

The Biden Administration’s effort to make airline service fees more transparent for consumers has been blocked by a U.S. appeals court.

In issuing the ruling, the court said the federal Transportation Department had not complied with procedural steps when it introduced the measure, according to Reuters.

In particular, the ruling states that the department did indeed have the authority to write fee disclosure rules addressing "unfair or deceptive practices being conducted by airlines."

On the other hand, the court said the department should have allowed airlines an opportunity to comment on a study that was used by the Transportation Department, which delved into the impact of the fee disclosure rules.

The transparency rule has now been returned to the Transportation Department so that the procedural error can be rectified. However, it's unclear how the new Trump administration will proceed, per Reuters.

The measure introduced by the previous presidential administration back in 2022 would have required airlines and ticket agents to be transparent with consumers about service fees, alongside airfare prices. The measure was meant to help consumers avoid paying unneeded fees or being shocked by unexpected fees added to a final ticket price.

A long list of airlines opposed the transparency measure. Among those who disagreed with the fee disclosures were American Airlines, Delta Airlines, United Airlines, JetBlue, and Alaska Airlines. All of these carriers, along with the industry’s trade group, Airlines for America (A4A) and the International Air Transport Association, had filed suit in response to the Biden Administration’s efforts.

In a statement issued on the heels of the appeals court ruling, A4A said the proposed transparency regulation "embodies regulatory overreach that would confuse consumers who would be inundated with information that would only serve to complicate the buying process."

The proposed measure was supposed to take effect in October 2024. Airlines had also said that the requirement would result in carriers having to spend millions of dollars to update their websites.

The Transportation Department has said that consumers overpay about $543 million in fees each year. The government had also argued that the proposed transparency effort would bring a halt to "bait-and-switch tactics some airlines use to disguise the true cost of discounted flights.".