Airlines dodge bill aimed at curbing excessive fees
Associated Press
WASHINGTON
A Senate panel approved an aviation policy bill Wednesday after a partisan fight over whether airlines gouge consumers with fees for basic services such as checked bags, seat assignments and ticket changes.
The Senate commerce committee approved by voice vote a bill to continue the Federal Aviation Administration’s authority to operate through Oct. 1, 2017. That authority is due to expire March 31.
The committee’s Democrats, led by Sen. Edward Markey, D-Mass., tried to add a provision to the bill to prohibit airlines from setting unreasonable fee prices and direct the Transportation Department to establish what is reasonable. The amendment failed on a party-line tie vote.
Consumers are being “gouged” by excessive fees, but they don’t have any choice but to pay them if they want to get to their destination, Markey said.
Republicans said the provision would be burdensome for airlines and that market forces should be allowed to determine fee prices.
“No one here can argue fees aren’t unpopular,” said Sen. John Thune, R-S.D., the committee’s chairman. “However, it’s not up to the federal government to determine when fees are unreasonable.” Rather, that should be determined by consumers through comparison shopping, he said.
Thune noted that the bill already includes several consumer provisions. Among those is a requirement that the department standardize the way airlines and ticket services disclose fees for basic services so that passengers can more easily comparison-shop the full cost of flights.