When airlines nickel-and-dime: Our view
You wouldn't get on a flight without knowing its destination. But the airline industry seems to think you want to shop for tickets without knowing how much they will cost.
How else to explain why the industry has been battling a rule that would force airlines and travel websites to list your total fare — including government taxes and fees — upfront?
Or why the industry is also fighting a government proposal, unveiled Wednesday, that would require airlines and travel websites to disclose upfront the fees for add-ons such as checked bags, carry-ons and seat assignments?
Those extra fees add hefty amounts to the cost of tickets. But in most cases, travelers can't find out the size of the fees — or comparison shop — unless they go to each airline website, choose flights, fill in names and other required data, calculate baggage and other fees, and figure out which seats they might want.
Since airlines began introducing their "à la carte pricing" in 2008, comparison shopping for a ticket has required a calculator and lots of free time and patience. But it's easy to see why airlines prefer it. Last year, they collected $3.35 billion in baggage fees alone.
The government's proposal does nothing to eliminate fees. It simply makes it easier for fliers to see them ahead of time, determine the full price of tickets and compare before they buy. That's hardly a revolutionary idea. It's called transparency.
Even so, the industry is outraged, just as it was in 2008 when the Department of Transportation had the audacity to propose fining airlines that held passengers hostage for hours on planes stuck on tarmacs with no food, water, information or usable bathrooms.
Airlines lobbied ferociously against the "tarmac delay" rule, too. They lost after years of complaints by stranded fliers and a spate of delays so egregious they made nationwide news.
And guess what? Tarmac delays of more than three hours have fallen dramatically — from 868 in 2009, the year before the rule went into effect, to an average of 75 flights a year since then.
Today, the industry is battling another consumer-friendly proposal, arguing that the government is interfering with free markets and forcing it to share price data on fees with middlemen that provide the information to popular online travel sites. Without sharing, the millions of customers who buy tickets on those sites are left largely in the dark.
When airlines decided to start charging fees for services that once were part of the ticket price, they should have found a way to make those prices available and fully transparent. They didn't. Six years later, the government is simply forcing the industry to do what it should have done from the start.
USA TODAY's editorial opinions are decided by its Editorial Board, separate from the news staff. Most editorials are coupled with an opposing view — a unique USA TODAY feature.