Senators strongly criticized on Wednesday rising airline fees for baggage and seat assignments, saying that carriers are looking for new ways to squeeze more money out of passengers.
Senator Richard Blumenthal, who chairs the Permanent Subcommittee on Investigations, criticized the carriers at the hearing along with American Airlines, United Airlines, Delta Airlines, Spirit Airlines and Frontier officials.
Blumenthal said, “Airlines these days treat their customers as nothing more than walking piggy banks out to extract every penny they can.”
Republican Senator Josh Hawley questioned why some airlines charge passengers different fees for baggage on the same flight.
“It’s Russian roulette,” Hawley said. “No one enjoys flying on your airlines. This is a disaster. …It’s horrible. This is absolutely horrible.”
A report released last week by Blumenthal revealed that the five airlines collectively generated $12.4 billion in revenue from seat charges between 2018 and 2023.
Blumenthal’s panel spent a year investigating, finding that carriers were increasingly using algorithms to set fees.
Carriers are working on customer-specific pricing “to discriminate against passengers, and to raise fares and fees for consumers the airline believes will pay more,” Blumenthal said. .
He said. Airlines say the fees are transparent and they need to give consumers choice as they face rising costs.
American Airlines Vice Chairman Stephen Johnson said carriers need to “appeal to the most budget-conscious customers.”
Delta executive Peter Carter said the carrier offers “choice and value for every customer.” … Fee practices that undermine our customers’ trust and loyalty are not in our best interests.
United executive Andrew Nocella said eliminating family seating in 2023 and WiFi fees next year would reduce revenue by millions of dollars.
Blumenthal’s committee found that budget carriers Frontier and Spirit paid gate agents and others $26 million between 2022 and 2023 for preventing passengers from paying bag fees or carrying oversized items.
Frontier workers can earn $10 for every bag passengers check at the gate, the report said. Frontier CEO Barry Biffle defended the practice, telling Reuters passengers were trying to avoid payment and were stealing from shops,
Spirit executive Matthew Klein said the airline stopped paying employees to shuttle passengers on Sept. 30.
Earlier this year, airlines Lawsuit filed to stop new rule of Transport Department on advance fee disclosure, while in 2018 the carrier successfully lobbied against bipartisan legislation to mandate “reasonable and proportionate” baggage and change fees.
