From Tom Parsons - Advertised Airfares Could Become Cloudier Or Clearer
Jun-06-2014

The government has proposed some new rules regarding air travel that could change the way fares are advertised.

One of these rules could make it harder to figure out the full cost of your flight, while the other two could make it easier.

A committee in the U.S. House of Representatives has proposed the so called "Transparent Airfares Act of 2014" and it's being touted as making the taxes clearer on tickets. Under this rule the airlines would be allowed to advertise their base fares and government taxes and fees separately. The airlines love this bill, so that is an indication that it is not consumer friendly.

This act aims to get rid of the "Full Fare Advertising Rule" which went into effect in 2012. That rule required airlines to show all mandatory federal, state and local government taxes and fees in their advertised fares and it took the airlines almost two years to implement. Why congress wants us to see these taxes separately is beyond me because we can't do anything about them. You've got a 7.5 percent ticket tax, airport fees, landing fees, and more, to pay for necessary things like airport improvements, air traffic control, TSA and customs.

The mandatory fees vary by destination and two airports in the same area can have different taxes and fees. We priced a roundtrip fare from Dallas to Hartford and it was $424 roundtrip. The base fare was $374, but taxes and fees were $28.05 for the 7.5% transportation tax, $5 for the 911 fee, $9 for the passenger facility charge and $8 for the flight segment tax. The total taxes and fees on that trip were $50.

On international tickets, these taxes and fees add up to hundreds of dollars. You have the base airfare and at least 10 separate categories of taxes and fees and I don't even know what some of them mean. You could see a $400 base fare ticket to Europe, but when you add taxes and fees, including a fuel surcharge of $516 to 90 percent of Europe and landing fees of up to $200, you could actually be paying $1,200 for the fare. The fuel surcharge, which is added by the airlines and not the government, is listed as a "YQ" or "YR" fee and I'm sure most of you would not know what those codes mean.

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Posted by Ken at 6:49 PM - Link to this entry  |  Share this entry  |  Print