by Lacey Pfalz
Last updated: 8:55 AM ET, Tue November 26, 2024
Rising airline fees for seat assignments and luggage have prompted the U.S. Senate panel of the Permanent Subcommittee on Investigations to hold a hearing with executives from the major American airlines explaining why fees are increasing.
The subcommittee, chaired by Senator Richard Blumenthal, will hold the hearing, titled “The Sky’s the Limit—New Revelations About Airline Fees” for airlines executives to testify on December 4, according to Reuters.
Executives from American Airlines, United Airlines, Delta Air Lines, Spirit Airlines and Frontier will testify.
The subcommittee, which operates under the Committee on Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs, has been investigating the issue for the past year, finding that between 2018 and 2023, the five airlines in question earned a total of $12.4 billion in seat fee revenue alone. For the first time ever, United Airlines earned $1.3 billion for seat fees in 2023.
According to the report, some carriers may be avoiding federal transportation excise taxes by calling certain charges “nontaxable fees.”
Blumenthal believes airlines should be required by law to have more detailed fee disclosures, saying the US Department of Transportation should investigate potential abuses in the current fee systems.
Fees for airlines have risen this year, most notably for checking bags: major airlines including Delta, United, Alaska, JetBlue and American Airlines have all raised prices for checking bags.
When the Biden Administration approved a new bill that would make airlines’ fee structures more transparent for travelers in April, saving American travelers about $500 million annually, the airlines reacted with a lawsuit against the bill.
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