U.S. Sen. Charles Schumer is urging the US department of transportation to reconsider its decision to scrap plans for more airline fee transparency.
Last week it ditched a proposal forcing airlines to disclose all fees at the start of the booking process.
The DOT argued the rule would be ‘of limited public benefit.’
The decision to scrap ‘this common sense passenger protection’ is a ‘Christmas gift’ for airlines, Schumer said.
Bag fees do have to be disclosed but that only becomes apparent at the final stage of an online booking, making it difficult to compare prices.
"The Obama-era proposal would have provided greater transparency by protecting consumers from varied airline fees that can easily confuse consumers and skyrocket the cost of a plane ticket," Schumer said.
Without upfront fee disclosure, airlines could syphon even more from consumers’ pockets by actually raising bag fees, or at the very least hiding them in the fine print and that’s why I’m urging the feds to immediately reverse course."
Airlines pocketed more than $7 billion in checked bag fees in 2016.
