Good news! President going after airline "junk fees"

The only one I disagree with him on is the fee for oversize people that take up more than "one" seat.

No question it is unfair to people with lower incomes or physical issues like height, weight, leg length, and other factors.

I'm just looking forward with great anticipation to the increased legroom and cheaper tickets.

He chose a bad example calling seat upgrades “junk fees.” It is quite transparent when you choose premium economy and before you make the actual purchase. Lack of transparency, perhaps, in basic economy where you can’t even bring carryon luggage, cannot choose a seat in advance, and uninformed people are caught unawares. Families flying together may get a surprise charge if they do not select seats in advance.

I do wish we’d go back to everyone having a free checked bag, but the airlines make more money on luggage than on tickets.

Laurel, the free checked bag would alleviate the occasional chaos of everyone stuffing oversized bags and what-not into the overhead bins.

It always struck me as odd that the government did not extract a requirement for one free checked bag when they (long ago, post 9/11) took over paying the costs of security screening bags, from the airlines. That was a decision of huge value to the airlines.

1/ Its not a particularly profitable business, so dont think they can afford to give anything away.
2/ After the government mandated shell game is complete the airline will receive the same revenue that they do today.
3/ The "junk fees" are in part taxes and use fees from the airports; so they wont "go away", they will just get rolled over into the cost of the ticket.
4/ That "free bag" won't be free, it will just get rolled over into the cost of the ticket.
5/ When it is all said and done, fewer people will be able to afford to fly because everyone will have to pay for the checked bag if they have one or not (no more Economy Light) but each plane still needs to make a profit so the with fewer people flying the plane the rest will just have to pay more; excellent idea.

Garbage article from garbage media, and corporate media is letting the Whitehouse off on the claim of fees being racist.

Does anyone remember when American Airlines offered more seat pitch across their fleet? Of course more pitch meant fewer seats and fares to account. In the end it didn't workout because everyone searches for price rather than leg room.

What I've disagreed with is the fee for checked baggage for domestic flights. But if you want more legroom beyond the 30/31 inches of economy, you should be paying for it.

I went to the actual White House statement, and it seems to me that the proposal is not forbidding airlines from charging any of these fees, rather its about disclosing them upfront. Therefore, preventing you from comparing costs directly. And it also proposes requiring refunds for cancelled/delated flights and checked baggage fees when bags are delayed. And yeah, the airlines will find a way to make up any loss of revenue.

I think the proposals are more significant to travelers regarding hotel "resort fees" and service charges being disclosed (not outlawed).

But the really significant part is about hidden medical charges. Where, for example, your hospital is in-network* but some of the doctors and services (who charge separately) are not. And then you get unexpected bills your insurance wont cover. This was actually an issue in one of our state elections in 2020, so it has some resonance.

*a peculiarity of the US health care system, where your health care decisions are made by insurance companies.

Hmm, thinking the odds are the webmaster will have justification to pull this post within the next 24 hours. ;)
Interesting topic, just with so many priorities needing to be addressed kinda surprised this is a White House focus.

“ it seems to me that the proposal is not forbidding airlines from charging any of these fees, rather its about disclosing them upfront. Therefore, preventing you from comparing costs directly. ”

This is already the law in the European Union. Hotels, airlines etc can only advertise rates with all the mandatory non-negotiable costs included. Before that rule went into force, a hotel could for example advertise a room rate as €100, but could neglect to mention €25 mandatory booking costs, €25 local tax and €50 mandatory room cleaning cost. So instead of €100 this hotel room would actually cost €200 as these are all mandatory charges without an option to not pay them. Since it wasn’t clear upfront which extra charges, if any, were included and which ones weren’t, it was very difficult to compare room rates.
Now every mandatory charge must be included, making it easier to compare room rates.
Hotels however don’t have to include optional charges. So if breakfast for instance is optional, it’s allowed to not include it in the room rate and charge it separately. This is allowed because the guest can always choose to have breakfast outside the hotel, whereas they can’t opt out of paying local taxes.

I 100 percent agree with the president that airlines have demonstrated racism, ableism, and discrimination toward marginalized people. It's all about the corporations, not average hard-working Americans. Totally unfair.

This isn't from "garbage media." It's a direct quote from the president.

I went to the actual White House statement, and it seems to me that
the proposal is not forbidding airlines from charging any of these
fees, rather its about disclosing them upfront.

1/ When you go to something like GoogleFlights, they publish the lowest option fare; it would be a mess if they tried to post all the possibilities.
2/ Then when you go to the airline site, and I tested this with a couple of airlines, they fully disclose up front what you get for your buck early in the booking process; as for the taxes and airport use fees they are always included in the price quotes, but then detailed when you check out (I presumed it was as a courtesy, maybe a law?)
3/ There are no "hidden fees" that I can find; but yes you do need to make the effort and take the time to know what you are buying.
4/ Personally I like the options; for an overnight to Dallas, I dont want to pay for a checked bag by having the cost rolled into the ticket cost, and for a 1 hour flight I really dont care where I sit if I can save $50; on longer flights I like the option of the choice of a seat with more room and I realize I can afford it because many others are happy with a tighter seat and the cost balances out.
5/ Like every business its a balancing act between cost and sales and the goal is to fill the plane with the highest profit margin (which in the airline industry isnt much).

Airline junk fees, didn't know we had them.

When I book my flights, usually on Delta, there are different levels like First Class, Business Class, Enconomy Plus, Economy and another bargain low fee that doesn't allow you to pick your seat in advance.

If you want more space and more bennies or service pay more. There is nothing hidden at all. We go for Economy seat, not the bargain low fee one and because we fly a lot, we usually get upgraded to Economy Plus, which is a slightly better seat.

I remember when the Government regulated air travel in the 70s and air travel was significantly for expensive. Yes, you always got to check luggage, yes, everyone in economy (or tourist) was treated the same, because everyone paid the exact same price. Yes, that price adjusted for inflation would be way higher than we pay today.

I remember pricing a trip to Spain in 1970, economy flight from Atlanta to Madrid was about $450 pp. This was when the minimum wage was something like $1.25 per hour and my ex-wife as a school teacher made about $3000 per year. Same teacher today makes over 10 times that amount.