A call for ensuring all ancillary airline fees are fully disclosed to travellers

Sep 7, 2010

A new website, madashellabouthiddenfees.com, that will allow travellers to tell their own hidden fee stories, and create YouTube videos has been launched in the US.

Published: 07 Sep 2010

A new website, madashellabouthiddenfees.com, that will allow travellers to tell their own hidden fee stories, and create YouTube videos has been launched in the US.

The site will also allow travellers sign a petition to the U.S. Department of Transportation (DOT) urging it to take action to require airlines to disclose those fees in advance through every ticketing channel in which airlines sell their seats.

The development emerged as The Consumer Travel Alliance (CTA), Business Travel Coalition (BTC) and American Society of Travel Agents (ASTA) released the results of an online survey of 1,396 travellers showing widespread surprise and anger over hidden airline fees for services such as checked baggage, advance seating and priority boarding. The groups also announced the launch of this new site.

The three groups have called on Congress and DOT to take swift action to ensure that all ancillary airline fees are fully disclosed to travellers through every distribution channel in which carriers participate so that the total cost of air travel options can be compared among carriers.

The groups also shared that they were marking September 23rd as “Mad As Hell Day!” and planned to deliver thousands of traveller petitions to the U.S. DOT on that day.

Conducted over the last two weeks before Labor Day, the hidden fees survey found:

  • Two-thirds (66%) of respondents said they had been surprised at the airport by unexpected fees for things such as checking bags, requesting a seat assignment, getting extra legroom, or flying standby.
  • Nearly a third (29%) said they were surprised often or nearly every time they travel via air by such fees.
  • Nearly two-thirds (65%) said such fees placed some or a great deal of unexpected financial strain on their budget for the trip, while more than a quarter (26%) said that those fees placed a great deal of unexpected strain.
  • A nearly unanimous 99 percentof respondents said that they think airlines should be required to disclose all of their fees in advance on every website that sells airline tickets.
  • When asked to rank the fees they found most annoying, respondents rated carry-on baggage fees the most annoying, with 91 percentcalling those fees “very annoying,” followed by seat reservation fees (88 percentvery annoying), checked baggage fees (74%), and telephone reservation fees (67%).

“Hidden fees are a violation of a traveller’s most basic right: to know how much they will have to pay for their trip,” said Charlie Leocha, president of the Consumer Travel Alliance.

Leocha added, “When two out of every three air travellers say they have been surprised by hidden fees at the airport, you know the current system is broken and needs to be fixed. Airlines should have to share their fees with every traveller, through every ticketing channel in which they participate, to every point of sale.”