Executives from major U.S. airlines traveled to Capitol Hill on Wednesday to answer questions about excessive air travel fees during a hearing that got rather heated at times.
A Senate subcommittee grilled execs for adding "junk fees" to flights by charging customers extra for selecting their own seat or checking their bags, saying the expenses tacked on to ticket prices were akin to extortion.
Lawmakers expressed bipartisan frustration over the fees, with Sen. Josh Hawley (R-MO) calling the flying experience "horrible" due to hidden charges.
"You guys do appreciate that flying on your airlines is a disaster, don't you?" Hawley said. "Flying on your airlines is horrible. It's terrible experience."
Criticism was directed at Frontier and Spirit for offering employee bonuses for getting customers to pay extra baggage fees. The subcommittee said internal documents from Frontier reveal a "bounty bag program," where gate agents earn $10 every time they identify a passenger whose free personal item is large enough to qualify as a carry-on bag, requiring a fee up to $99. When confronted about the incentive, Frontier accused customers who don't pay for carry-on bags of "stealing from the airline," the report noted.
"Your airlines cumulatively have spent $26 million paying gate agents between 2022 and 2023 to catch passengers whose bags are a little bit too big, $26 million," Hawley said. "I mean if people want to know why it's such a terrible experience to fly this is news for them."
"Your airlines are paying millions of dollars to your employees to harass people who have already paid," he added.
The senator, a father of three, recounted a personal experience of poor treatment by airline staff and vowed to take action to address the issues.
"An attendant on your airline threatened my wife because our then 5-year-old son, his mask had slipped -- this is back when we all had to wear those
ridiculous masks -- his mask had slipped below his nose. This flight attendant came up to my wife and said if she didn't keep that mask over his nose at all points on this 4 hour flight, she would personally see that my wife was banned from flying," Hawley said.
"This has happened over and over to families. It's terrible, it's absolutely terrible and your attitude here today seems to be 'Well, the devil may care, there's nothing we can do about it,'" he added. "Well, I think we are going to do something about it."
The hearing also saw Sen. Richard Blumenthal (D-CT) condemning airlines for viewing customers as "walking piggy banks."
"Last week was the busiest, or certainly one of the busiest, of our travel weekends," Blumenthal said. "Eighteen million people in the air, and many of them frustrated and infuriated, not just by delays and cancellations — some of them inevitable — but by fees that seemed to be sky high with no prospect of landing. In fact, they feel with more than understandable justification that they are piggy banks to be shaken down by these skyrocketing fees that seem to have no connection to any costs that the airlines incur."
Blumenthal accused the airlines of concealing fees by "unbundling pricing," or separately charging for every little thing, to intentionally make comparison shopping difficult for travelers.
"More travelers are searching for tickets without knowing what the final price will be until they pay it, and some are surprised by concealed charges at the moment they are about to board at the gate," he said.
The subcommittee's report found that major U.S. airlines brought in $12.4 billion in seating fees between 2018 and 2023. American, Delta, United, Frontier and Spirit collected over $3 billion in seat fees in 2023 alone, a 50% increase from 2018. The five airlines also generated $25.3 billion in checked bag fees over the past six years, per the report.
Despite criticism, airline executives defended the extra costs as optional for travelers.
Senators called for more transparency in the added fees and suggested that the federal government should review and potentially fine the airlines.
The hearing highlighted how airlines have used ancillary fees to boost revenue, driving up costs for consumers. It also highlighted the ongoing tension between airlines and passengers over fees and customer service.
The Biden administration has been critical of airline fees, with a recent Transportation Department rule requiring upfront fee disclosure and automatic refunds for canceled or delayed flights. Still, consumers are advised to shop around to avoid surprise charges.