Travel Industry: Airfare Transparency Bill is 'Flawed'

Like most legislation, H.R. 4156, the Transparent Airfares Act of 2014 is creating something of a conundrum in the airline industry. Its passage today mandates that airfare advertising disclose additional ticket pricing fees such as government taxes. That makes some happy – like the airlines – and others saying the legislation fell short of the mark.

Washington, D.C.-based Airlines for America, the leading lobby group for U.S. airlines, said the bipartisan legislation pushed through by the House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee would end the ability for the government to bury ticket tax hikes in advertised prices by reversing the Department of Transportation’s (DOT) 2012 Full Fare Advertising (FFA) Rule, requiring that federal taxes and fees be included in the base price of an advertised fare.

“Air travel remains one of the best bargains for consumers, but that affordability is imperiled by rising government taxes and fees,” said A4A President and CEO Nicholas E. Calio, who noted that commercial aviation, which helps support more than 10 million jobs, is already shouldering an excessive tax burden that has increased nearly 30-fold since 1972.

The new Transparent Airfares Act mandates that airline advertising clearly state three separate numbers – the base price of the ticket, any government-imposed fees and the total cost of the ticket.

But Roger Dow, president and CEO of the U.S. Travel Association, said that while the intent was in the right place, final wording and structure of H.R. 4156 is flawed.

"It only gets halfway there by still allowing sites to obfuscate the full price of an airline ticket. If we're going to do this, let's do it right the first time, and finish the job,” Dow said.

Though the bill calls for increased disclosure of taxes and fees, it would still allow advertisers and other sellers of air transportation to put those fees into separate links or pop-up windows, potentially confusing customers.

"Don't just swap one kind of transparency for another," Dow said. "Let's take this opportunity to shine a full light on the costs associated with air travel."

Dow said other industry sectors – such as car rental vendors – routinely build taxes and fees into their advertised costs.

"We in the travel community will fight for three basic principles in any changes to aviation fee structures,” he said. “One, transparency, so consumers can clearly see all of what they're paying for. Two, value, so consumers are assured that the dollars they spend are coming back to them in the form of services and amenities. Three, efficiency, so that the travel experience is free of hassles at every stage, from when a traveler purchases their ticket online to when they step out to the curb at their destination. H.R. 4156 needs some work before it successfully captures all of those criteria."