Here come the fake consumer advocates

As the hour of the House Subcommittee on Aviation hearing on airline fees draws closer, I’m amused by the number of self-appointed consumer advocates who have come forward to claim this issue as their own. And troubled.

Expect to see these impostors parading around Washington in the next few days and speaking in canned soundbites on the nightly news and on the front pages of our dying newspapers.

Truth is, this is not their issue. It isn’t my issue.

It is your issue.

Dig a little deeper, and you’ll find that most of these so-called “advocates” didn’t give a damn about airline fees until the Congress got involved. And if you keep scrolling back in time, you’ll notice very few people who actually spoke out against the massive fraud the airline industry has perpetrated on the American public before it became the issue du jour in DC.

No, this is your fight. Yours to win — or lose.

And so I asked you: What do you want from the hearings. I put the question to my new listserv (you can sign up here).

Longtime reader Ron Goltsch thinks we should talk about the confusion air travelers feel when they book a ticket:

Right now, if I compare a flight on United versus Southwest, there is no indication during the price comparisons that United charges extra for checked baggage. Without a universal final cost display, the customer is left to wonder what their final price will be.

Do we need to enact laws to force the airlines to disclose all their fees BEFORE the final purchase is made? Perhaps we need to set some baseline ticket pricing model: one passenger, one checked bag, one carryon bag, one non-alcoholic drink on board = final cost.

Without a doubt, Ron.

I’d like to know why the airfares on competing lines are so often identical, down to the last penny.

That’s from Roseanne Skopp. So would I.

Here’s one from someone we’ll just call Mr. Unhappy Traveler:

Congress has allowed the US airline industry to strangle travelers since deregulation in 1978.

The oligopoly that now exists can and will do as they please, unless competing with a low-cost carrier in some markets. The legacy airlines learned years ago that Congress’ attention and support are based on hearty contributions to members! Mr. Oberstar is one member that refuses to go along with the status quo, but he is a voice in the wilderness.

Much like banking, insurance, and other critical industries, air transportation is controlled by few, but very powerful, corporations whose influence is not likely to wane anytime soon. I’m afraid these hearings won’t amount to much.

Mark Mealey added just one question. A request, really:

I want the airlines to includes all taxes, surcharges, fees, airline costs when the price is first quoted not right before I need to click purchase.

Technology guru and longtime reader Richard Eastman suggested a few questions needed to be raised:

1. What is government role in fee oversight?

2. How does the government (or for that matter, does an airline) define an “unbundled” service for which a fee is added in such a way as to be able to compare apples-with-apples; oranges-with-oranges?

3. How does the government compare one “unbundled service fee” with another air carrier’s “all inclusive” airline seat price (i.e. one airline charges for baggage; another includes baggage in its ticket price – one airline charges for light snacks; another includes them in the ticket price; etc.)?

4. How will airlines report on service fees charged when they are (a) often not included in ticket-price; (b) often reflected in different revenue flow or accounting streams; (c) sometimes sold by third or fourth party vendors; (d) sometimes sold “on board”; etc.?

5. Who will pay the added cost incurred by the airlines (and the government) needed to build the accounting systems and tracking tools to provide the information needed for these reports; and what will those costs be?

Valid questions, all.

Finally, there’s this comment from reader Lucy Smith.

I don’t know whether this hearing and the questions and statements will make a difference, but if they’re having a hearing, there should at least be a response from the public, represented by someone who has his finger on the pulse of the people and the airlines. (You, Christopher Elliott!). If an airline cannot make it on ticket prices, It should not be in business today.

Bottom line: Straighten up and fly straight! Cut out all the crap, people.

Well, thanks for that. But I haven’t been asked to testify. All I can do — all we can do — is wish the people who are representing all of us the very best.

We can hope that their efforts signal the beginning of a sustained effort to help air travelers deal with a scam that routinely doubles the price of an airline ticket.

(Photo: christoph schrey/Flickr Creative Commons)

  • Ken

    Okay, no one likes extra fees, but I think people are getting a little spoiled and a little too “let’s jump on the airline complaint” bandwagon. Have you ever purchased a ticket via Ticketmaster? Rented a car? Got an oil change? (Only $14.99 for an oil change! But wait, upon checkout you have a $2 shop fee, a $1 recyclable fee, $3 materials fee…etc, etc.) Why is no one complaining about those fees on the front page of the news EVERY single day? (Actually, it’s because those fees aren’t newsworthy. Airline fees are more easily dramatized by the media so they can sell more papers. Thus, only those get reported.)

    “The massive fraud the airline industry has perpetrated…” Really? Being a little dramatic here aren’t we Mr. Elliott? Please stick to the facts and don’t go down the dramatic media road just to get more readers.

    “The customer is left to wonder what their final price is to pay”- Really? I always have a total before I hit the final purchase button. Even if it didn’t include the bag fee, is the math really that hard? $25 for my bag. $200 for my fare. Is it that difficult to figure out your total cost is $225?

    “I’d like to know why the airfare on competing lines are always so identical” What for? What do you care? The average airline passenger bases their decision solely on price, so who cares if it is identical on various airlines? Wouldn’t that be a good thing, because then price is ruled out of the decision and you can base your choice on who provides the best service/schedule.

    “Congress has allowed the US airline industry to strangle travelers since deregulation in 1978?” Really? Is that why the average price for an airline ticket (adjusted for inflation) is lower now than in 1978?

    No one likes fees, from the airlines or oil change places or anywhere. But instead of being lemmings and letting the media get you all riled up…take a deep breath and look at the big picture. The average airline ticket is not even up to 2001 levels yet. People got used to all those $185 coast to coast fares and for some reason expect that to last indefinitely.

    Bottom line is: until (the average) passengers stop basing their choices on price alone…this will never end. (Perfect example- Spirit Airlines, with their carry-on fee and all, continues to have people fly them. Why? If they are such an evil entity with all their fees, why do you still fly them?) As the passenger keeps demanding lower and lower fares, the airlines are forced to keep them low…but with fuel costs continuing to rise…they have to make up the difference somehow.

    I actually think bag fees are a good thing. Why should I (who normally does not check bags, I can pack my carry on very well) have to pay for the cost of baggage handling when I’m not checking any bags?

    As a former airline employee, I would love to go back to the “good ole” days of flying. Passengers actually showed respect for their fellow passengers. People dressed half way decent. Service was great. Lots of food choices. Where did that go? Just like the higher ticket prices back in the “good ole” days, it became extinct. You were able to have that great experience because the ticket prices were higher and more could be spent “on the passenger”.

    Then, the discounters came along with their “we ain’t nothing but a greyhound bus in the sky, but we’ll get you there cheaper” models. The race to the bottom began. The average passenger decided price was the most important factor. Good ole days gone forever.

  • Bryan

    Ken you are right on the fees at Ticketmaster and for oil changes. The public does not say anything about them. Yes, I base my flying decision on price. I live in between three airports, AVL, GSP, and CLT. I choose the airline that will get me to my destination the quickest, the cheapest, and on the schedule I want to fly. The airline industry today is just like a commodity; they transport people and cargo from point A to point B. I could care less if one airline is serving peanuts and another airline is serving pretzels. Tell me how you pack your carry-on, I have a business trip next week and would love to avoid the $20 each way baggage fee on USAIR.

  • James

    “The customer is left to wonder what their final price is to pay”- Really? I always have a total before I hit the final purchase button. Even if it didn’t include the bag fee, is the math really that hard? $25 for my bag. $200 for my fare. Is it that difficult to figure out your total cost is $225?

    Ken,

    I think you answered your question, a round trip fair would be $250 not $225. Remember, you have to pay both ways.

    See why we need transparency?

  • Ken

    “I think you answered your question, a round trip fair would be $250 not $225. Remember, you have to pay both ways”.

    Where did I say the fare was round trip? Even so, wasn’t it very easy to figure out that a round trip would be $250? You seemed to do the math very easily, which was my point.

    Bryan- Kind of hard to explain. Wish I could post a video, it would be easier. Instead of folding everything, I “roll’ everything up. I think it’s called an “Army roll”, but I could be mistaken on that. It keeps wrinkles out and takes up much less space than folding does. I also use those super small travel size versions of mouthwash, toothpaste, etc. Although, most of the time the hotel has those available so I don’t pack those.

  • Jerry Mandel

    I cannot understand why people are badmouthing deregulation. Over the years, deregulation has saved me A LOT of money and, also, enabled me to take extra trips which I could not or would not afford.

  • Roberto

    Those of you who are pining for the days before deregulation have forgotten that most pre-1978 air travel was done by the wealthy and those on business travel. Plane tickets were hugely expensive.

    My biggest gripe about the baggage fees is that the airlines are charging me $25 for the same crappy baggage handling as before.

    If you’re going to charge me for something, I expect you to take seriously your duty to provide the service you charged me for. That means you get my bag from point A to point B, and you handle it with reasonable care.

  • Paul

    Yes, and just today in the news, Delta has been socked with a $40,000 fine from the Feds for failing to disclose that one of the connecting flights – which they carefully couched in detail that it was a Delta flight – was actually going to be flown by a “feeder” airline (you know the ones that you have to inhale and hold your breath lest you cannot fit into a seat or stand up), and most likely would have been passed over by frequent flyers who would opt for another connecting flight on a larger aircraft.
    Of course, $40,000 is a mere drop in the bucket for the “World’s Largest Airline” who will take in stride and add it to the ticket structures. As one who enjoys his last year (after 15+) of Medallion privileges I can’t wait until it costs more to check in an enter an aircraft than it does to actual pay for a ticket.

  • Carver

    @Chris

    I’d like to know why the airfares on competing lines are so often identical, down to the last penny.

    That’s from Roseanne Skopp. So would I.

    ===========================================
    That’s a freshman economics question. All things being equal, two identical items, sold under the same conditions, should cost the same. If they didn’t no one would buy the more expensive one forcing a price reduction.

    Ever been to a farmer’s market. Any given items costs the same from each booth.

    Nothing nefarious here.

  • Mike

    @Carver, You’ve conveniently proven yourself wrong. There is NOTHING that is exactly the same except the price. Each airline has different costs, going from fuel, to airplane, to baggage crew, flight attendants, pilots, and everyone at the corporate level on down. They even pay different lease amounts at the airports they serve depending on their agreements. Yet in your theory, everyone conveniently has the exact same costs, resulting in exactly the same price. Either they colluded to come up with the same price, one airline lowered their price to match, or the other rasied their price to get more per ticket based on the selling price of the other. Just like gas prices, do you honestly expect someone to believe that the product costs the same amount at every location and goes up by the same amount on the same day?

    @Ken, People have been screaming about the Ticketmaster fees for years. They are a complete rip off by a monopoly. Also, the oil change fees are fairly universal as many of the fees are government mandated recycling fees for each unit sold or job done. In my state all shops charge the same or close to the same for tire disposal. its a government regulation.

    Not so with the airlines. Each one is free to determine the cost of extras, such as baggage fees, seat location fees, food fees, carryon fees, and now toilet fees. When you have a larger airport that is serviced by many different carriers, the costs should be up front so that one can COMPARE total costs before they commit to a purchase. In your scenario, you haven’t compared anything. That’s the point, to be able to compare without having to get out your notebook and search each airline’s site for all their fees and to see which ones apply to you. This is the internet and things should be easier, not harder.

  • MeanMeosh

    @Mike – “There is NOTHING that is exactly the same except the price. Each airline has different costs, going from fuel, to airplane, to baggage crew, flight attendants, pilots, and everyone at the corporate level on down. They even pay different lease amounts at the airports they serve depending on their agreements. Yet in your theory, everyone conveniently has the exact same costs, resulting in exactly the same price.”

    Where did Carver mention anything about the airlines’ costs? All he seems to be saying is, two seemingly identical products sold under the same conditions should, theoretically, cost the same. Why would I, the consumer, care, or for that matter even know, if AA’s labor costs $65 per passenger from DFW to JFK, but Delta’s costs are only $35? If DL and AA both fly the route, both leave roughly around the same time, and both offer the same or largely similar service levels (they do), I’m not going to pay $30 more for AA just because their labor costs are higher. They have to match the cheapest offering, unless they offer some kind of differentiation (non-stop vs. connecting, large jet vs. regional jet, etc.) that convinces me it’s worth it to pay more.

  • Riroon

    @ Ken–

    I don’t want to get this thread hijacked with Ticketmaster discussions, but ever heard of Pearl Jam? Or more recently, the fan revolt of 2010 (see Rolling Stone mag and music websites as they list all the tours canceled this year or moved to smaller venues because people have stopped buying tickets)

    …………..

    Other than that, not much to say on the subject other than CLARITY please

  • Mike

    @MeanMeosh, carver said “That’s a freshman economics question. All things being equal, two identical items, sold under the same conditions, should cost the same. If they didn’t no one would buy the more expensive one forcing a price reduction.”

    I took “all things being equal” to mean just that, equal. No two airlines are equal and no airline offers the same exact service for the same price as the next. Fees are different and one might collect for things that the other does not. While they both might fly to the same location, there is nothing else equal about them.

  • Steve

    Mike: “Yet in your theory, everyone conveniently has the exact same costs, resulting in exactly the same price.” No, that’s not Carver’s theory at all. We’re looking at the consumer side of the equation, so costs have little relevance. If I can buy a ticket for $300 on one airline, and another airline offers basically the same ticket (same service, convenience, etc) for $400 because their costs are $100 higher, guess what – I don’t care. I’m flying the $300 airline. The second airline will either need to market themselves in a way to convince customers that it’s worth paying extra to fly them, reduce costs, operate that flight at a loss, or pull out of that route entirely.

    “Just like gas prices, do you honestly expect someone to believe that the product costs the same amount at every location and goes up by the same amount on the same day?” Actually, gasoline is a great example of a product that is more or less the same wherever you buy it, and thus consumers are very sensitive to discrepancies in price. You’ll never see one station selling it for $2.50 a gallon and a station across the street selling it for $3.50 a gallon, because no one would buy from the latter station. Still, gas prices are not exactly the same among geographic areas. Some brands tend to be a few cents higher, and stations in certain locations (major cities, near interstate exits, etc) tend to be a bit higher than others, but it’s generally a relatively small difference.

  • atlmom

    @Paul: actually, I was under the impression that there are plenty of airlines in Europe that charge almost nothing for the ticket, but then give you plenty of charges for everything else…

  • Carver

    @Mike

    What Steve and MeanMosh said.