How Posting All U.S. Airline Fees Upfront Will Impact Corporate Travel
Photo Credit: The U.S. Transportation Department wants airlines to disclose ancillary fees, like bags and seats, earlier on in the booking process. Unsplash / Anna Vi
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The U.S. Transportation Department wants airlines to be more transparent about their ancillary fees. In theory it would help businesses, but the corporate travel sector has been grappling with this issue for years already.
The U.S. Transportation Department’s proposal announced this week to force airlines to display ancillary fees, like bags and seats, upfront will offer businesses, not just consumers, an upside.
Companies would gain a clearer picture of how much they’re spending overall on travel, with less chance of extras being buried away. But the U.S. department could be underestimating the complexity of the task ahead.
The proposed requirement will apply to any ticket agents that sell airline tickets, including corporate travel agencies and metasearch websites. And of course the airlines themselves, both U.S. and foreign.
But for now it's exempting global distribution systems (namely Amadeus, Travelport and Sabre). They’re not covered by the proposal because they arrange for air transportation, but do not sell or display a carrier’s fare to consumers, the department said.
At the same time they play an integral part in business travel, as they are
