The pending FAA reauthorization bill has served as a kind of magnifying lens on several weighty issues facing travel suppliers and their customers.
On the operational side, there’s the debate regarding the country’s air-traffic control system: To privatize, or not to privatize? However that plays out, air travelers’ experience isn’t likely to be much affected, no matter what the disputing parties claim.
Of real potential import to flyers, on the other hand, was the proposal by Tennessee Congressman Steve Cohen to regulate airlines’ seat size. While Cohen’s proposed amendment to the FAA bill would almost certainly have resulted in more comfortable coach seating, his argument made no mention whatever of comfort—which is, after all, a highly unquantifiable attribute. Rather, he linked shrinking seat size to safety (emergency evacuation difficulties) and health (deep-vein thrombosis on longer flights). A majority of his peers on the House Transportation Committee were underwhelmed by his logic, however, and voted the amendment down.
A second contentious consumer issue was raised this week, with the introduction of a bill prohibiting the airlines from imposing fees that “are not reasonable or proportional to the cost of the service.”
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The bill, saddled with the unwieldy title, the Forbidding Airlines from Imposing Ridiculous (FAIR) Fees Act, is sponsored by Senators Edward Markey (D-Mass.) and Richard Blumenthal (D-Conn.). Their news release alludes to the fact that the airlines collected more than $5 billion in bag fees and change or cancellation fees in the first three quarters of 2015. According to the Senators:
Airlines should not be allowed to overcharge captive passengers just because they need to change their flight or have to check a couple of bags. There is no justification for charging consumers a $200 fee to resell a $150 ticket that was cancelled well in advance. The FAIR Fees Act puts a stop to this fee gouging and will help ensure passengers are flying the fair and friendly skies.
To the many travel consumers who feel they’ve indeed been gouged by the airlines, regulating those nuisance fees is likely to seem fair and reasonable. And, as the bill’s sponsors point out, the act has the support of many consumer-oriented organizations, including the National Consumers League, National Association of Airline Passengers, Consumers Union, Consumer Action, U.S. Public Interest Group, Travelers United, Airlinepassengers.org, Consumer Federation of America, and Travelers Voice.
As is always the case with such consumer-protection initiatives, the argument will pit those who are pro-regulation against free marketers, who favor
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As the rescue and recovery effort continues in the aftermath of wildfires that swept portions of the island of Maui, the local tourism board and airlines are asking travelers to reconsider their travel to the island. “Vacation travel to West Maui is strongly discouraged for the near future. Visitors in West Maui have largely heeded the call to leave the island. About 46,000 people have flown out of Kahului Airport since Wednesday,” the Hawaii Tourism Authority shared in a news release.
A Southwest Airlines passenger said she enlisted the help of her Instagram followers to retrieve her lost bags after airline staff said they couldn't help.
Back to school is just around the corner and Spirit Airlines is making that transition a bit easier by helping students, parents, and teachers alike plan for their first school year vacation with a $40 flight sale.
Travelers looking to extend their summer can now treat themselves to a trip to Hawaii this fall thanks to these major discounts. Hawaiian Airlines'«Switch Up Your Surroundings» fare sale, is offering discounted one-way airfares to and from many popular destinations in Hawaii — with fares starting at $119 Some of the biggest deals on the one-way fares include:
Delta CEO Ed Bastian has a bold idea: Perhaps the future of his airline’s success lies less in low fares and more in steadily improving service, amenities, and reliability. Delta has made inroads with high-paying business travelers through improved business-class service, but the AP’s Scott Mayerowitz reports that Bastian has no plans to hang the main cabin out to dry.
Ancillary revenue is the amount of money an airline takes in after charging for its base airfares—also known as airline fees. It might not come as a surprise that the amount airlines get by nickel-and-diming you has been growing steadily over the past decade—but some charge (a lot) more in airline fees than others. How much? Billions.
Consolidation is the enemy of competition. That’s an axiom of economic theory. And it’s a truth known to any kid who was forced to cut the price of his lemonade when the neighbor opened another lemonade stand across the street.
When legendary investor Warren Buffett began investing in airline stocks last year, it was big news in the investing community. Theretofore Buffett had been a staunch critic of the industry’s underlying economics, and regularly unleashed scathing takedowns of airline investments. Like this, from 2002:
Effective today, one of the world’s largest airlines is making a surprising change to its booking policy. According to a confirmation email received this morning: