The Trump administration has harmed air travelers by rolling back the airline fee disclosure rule along with base airfares and taxes.
Last week, I was having afternoon tea and coffee with fellow residents of my building. Eventually, the discussion turned to travel when one of the group mentioned that he and his wife were going to Aruba. Sadly, I had to tell them about the demise of the airline fee disclosure rule.
This is the first time that they will fly since the Covid pandemic started. In recent years, all his travels were by car.
After choosing their flights, they said they were surprised about baggage and seat fees that dramatically increased their airfare. He bought the tickets despite the fees because he felt that he could not hold back from buying the tickets at that time. He could have retreated at that time.
The Biden administration enacted a rule that would require airlines to disclose their fees upfront. But the courts sided with the airlines and stopped it.
In April 2024, the DOT made a rule under which airlines will have to disclose their fees along with their fares and taxes. This was blocked by the courts soon after when airlines sued to prevent upfront fee disclosure.
Fees may increase, especially for families traveling together. For domestic flights on United Airlines and American Airlines, the first checked bag will cost $40 if you wait to pay at the airport, but only $35 if you prepay the bag fee. On Southwest and Delta, the fee for the first checked bag is $35.
On United Airlines, passengers can bring one carry-on bag and one personal item on the flight, unless you are in Basic Economy. If it’s your only bag their carry-on becomes checked luggage at a cost of $35. If you also have a checked bag, your carry-on will be your second bag and will incur a higher fee. You will be able to bring one personal item to all seat classes. On American, Southwest and Delta, you can bring carry-on and personal items at no charge.
Disclosure of late baggage fees prevents air travelers from easily comparing low-end airfares across airline routes.
The problem with late baggage fee disclosure is that it makes it extremely difficult to “shop around” for the best air travel pricing. Unless you’re an experienced air traveler, you probably don’t know that you’ll be charged a bag fee for your checked luggage.
To be sure about the problem, I went to United’s website and went through the process of purchasing a ticket.
I entered the airports and dates for my round trip flights. This took me to the page where I would choose the flight and cabin for my seats. It turns out that on this page, if you scroll to the bottom of the page, it has a link for “Additional Fare Details”. If you click there it says, “Additional bag fees may apply.” You will have to click on the second link to actually see the details. When you reach the page, it does not give any bag fee details. Instead you will get the United “Checked Bag Fee Calculator.”
Even when disclosing hidden baggage fees, United makes it difficult to determine exactly what the fee is.
To determine the fare, you’ll need to type in your departure and arrival airports, departure date, and your cabin class. None of the information you’ve already typed on the United website is automatically populated into the form. After you click “View Bag Fees” it will list the different bag fees that can be assessed, including both standard and prepaid fees.
Unless you’re a regular member of United Airlines, you won’t know what the bag fee is before you choose your flights if you don’t use the calculator at this time. Also, if you don’t scroll to the bottom of the flight/fare page, you won’t even see that there may be a bag fee when flying on United, because the fare prices don’t indicate that there may be other fees.
After clicking on the outbound flight of your choice, it brings you to the return flight option. Again, if you don’t scroll all the way to the bottom and instead quickly select a return flight, you’ll still see no mention of bag fees. After selecting your return flight, you will be taken to the passenger information page. Once you’ve filled out your personal information, chances are you won’t see the baggage fees listed on the page, as they’re far below the information you’re typing, including the “Continue” button that takes you to the next page.
Even when the United Airlines website discloses hidden baggage fees, it’s hard to see the details to compare fares.
Finally, once you’ve selected your flights and entered your personal information, you’re brought to a page that tells you how much you’ll pay for your checked luggage. Well, that kind of tells you. There are a bunch of bundles and none of them clearly state what fees are included in each. It mentions that there is a baggage fee, but the amount is still hidden.
The hidden baggage fee on my sample flight on United raised the airfare from $279 to $487.
My base airfare including taxes was $279. I already knew this from the United website. I chose the bundle for each flight that included Economy Plus seating for more legroom and advance payment of checked baggage fees. They were $104 or $208 for each flight, which is a 75 percent increase over the cost of my ticket. I only knew how much the seat upgrade was because I researched it extensively. My opinion is that hiding the baggage fees is a strategic sales decision by United. Now I have to choose my seats. At this point, I learned that there was no cost to them in choosing my seats. I stopped there because it was time for payment.
If I were trying to compare fares with another airline, I would have to spend 20 minutes each getting to that point on United and whatever other airline I was considering. By strategically making it so time-consuming and difficult to find out the full cost of a flight on United, I think it’s clear that United is trying to dissuade air travelers from looking elsewhere to get their original price. At every other major US airline, the fare/fee story is much the same.
In my opinion, this is not fair and it is anti-competitive.
The Trump Administration needs to start protecting air travelers, not the airlines that charge all these fees.
The court banned the new rules. The Trump administration brought back transparent airfares, with compensation for disrupted flights within airline control and protection for disabled air travelers with damaged wheelchairs. The Trump administration has harmed air travel consumers. It is difficult to know how much air travelers will pay for their tickets without comparison shopping. Now is the time for the Trump Administration to support the people who travel by air instead of giant airline corporations.
,Image: Southwest Airlines B737 landing at Philadelphia International Airport. Copyright © 2018 NSL Photography. All rights reserved.,
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After working for several years in corporate America as a chemical engineer, executive, and eventually CFO of a multinational manufacturer, Ned founded a technical consulting company and later restarted his photography business, NSL Photography. Before entering the corporate world, Ned worked as a public health engineer for the Philadelphia Department of Public Health. As a renowned corporate, travel and wildlife photographer, Ned writes about travel and photography around the world, as well as runs photography workshops, seminars and photowalks. Visit Ned’s photography blog and gallery.
