By David Shepardson
WASHINGTON (Reuters) – The U.S. Transportation Department (USDOT) on Monday is proposing requiring airlines and travel search websites to disclose fees for baggage, ticket changes and family seating the first time an airfare is displayed.
The Biden administration has proposed a series of rules to boost airline consumer protections. “Airline passengers deserve to know the full, true cost of their flights before they buy a ticket,” said U.S. Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg.
The administration notes in 2021 large airlines made $700 million just on cancellation and change fees. A major airline trade group did not immediately comment.
Last month, Buttigieg told Reuters that airline rules were in need of a “refresh.”
The White House plans to tout the plan at Monday’s third meeting of President Joe Biden’s competition council that was created in 2021. A White House official said Biden in his remarks to the council will direct federal agencies “to train their focus on hidden fees that raise costs for consumers.”
In July 2021, USDOT proposed rules to require passenger airlines to refund fees for bags that are significantly delayed and refunds for services like onboard Wi-Fi that do not work. The administration has still not finalized those rules.
Under existing U.S. rules, passengers are entitled to a fee refund if bags are lost, but not when delayed.
In 2011, the Transportation Department required disclosure of ancillary service fees by carriers and ticket agents on a page directly linked from their main websites.
(Reporting by David Shepardson; Editing by Catherine Evans and Andrea Ricci)
