ASTA and the Travel
Technology Association have voiced opposition to Rep. Carlos
Curbelo’s (R-Fla.) proposal that would end the federal full-fare advertising rule implemented by the Department of Transportation in 2012.
The rule requires anyone
selling airline tickets to post total price in print and online
advertising, inclusive of taxes and fees.
Curbelo submitted his
proposal as an amendment to the FAA reauthorization bill, the AIRR Act. It would allow airlines, travel agents
and packagers to post base fares on websites and in
advertisements, so long as other costs are separately disclosed.
ASTA and Travel
Tech registered their opposition via a letter sent Wednesday to the leadership of the House
Transportation and Infrastructure Committee. They joined the
Business Travel Coalition, which also came out strongly against the amendment.
ASTA and Travel Tech
argue that “the amendment would actually have the opposite effect of its
purported intention and further frustrate consumers’ ability to comparison
shop.”
The full-fare ad rule was affirmed by the U.S. Court of Appeals in 2012,
the letter states, and the Supreme Court denied reviewing it further.
The trade group Airlines For
America said it wants the full-fare ad rule abolished because it enables the government to hide how much it taxes air travel. ASTA considers that a specious argument.
“If the purpose of the
proposed legislation is to allow airlines to display the level of airline taxes
and fees so that the public can be advised, the current DOT regulation already
allows this,” the letter states.
ASTA and Travel Tech go
on to call the amendment something that “attempts to fix a problem that simply
does not exist, while reducing the degree of the total price transparency that
DOT has sought to foster for the benefit of consumers."