Hypocrisy at DOT

[Gone To Texas]

The Department of Transportation is advancing further in its efforts to tell airlines how to run their businesses.

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[Perham1]

But out of the other corner of his mouth he's coercing airlines to hide government taxes in the airlines' fares.

How do you get "hide" out of that? What prevents the airlines from displaying the tax portion as a separate line item(s)? What prevents the airlines from appending an asterisk stating that the prices include applicable taxes.

I think you're barking up the wrong tree, making a mountain out of molehill.

Futhermore, the govt is hardly telling the airlines how to run their business. Unless, of course, demanding that companies display accurate pricing information is telling them how to run their business.

As a consumer I prefer knowing what the real price is, which includes taxes. I don't know why anyone would object to this.

Is this some rant generated by Fox News? What exactly is the problem here?

 

[FridayNiteLites]

Agree with Perham, but I can see the airlines point. They don't put the total price on any product in stores. You don't see the final tally with tax untill checkout. It would be nice to see the "total" price including taxes and fees before I purchase an airline ticket.

 

[Giovanni Jones]

I think it's kind of nice that the Feds are now forcing the airlines to refund your baggage fee if they lose your bags.
The Link

 

[Gone To Texas]

As a consumer, of course I appreciate having transparency in pricing and product information, although I've never seen anything priced in the US that includes sales tax. And I'm routinely shocked when I'm making an internet purchase, only to realize that taxes and delivery charges often double the total amount paid. And don't even get me started on Ticketmaster. So why should airlines be singled out?

Technically speaking, my understanding is that airlines haven't yet integrated baggage and other fees with their reservations systems, so it is going to be costly for them to make the software upgrades necessary to meet these new transparency requirements. I think they are moving in that direction already anyway--certainly American Airlines is (causing their recent fight with Orbitz). Still, I would rather see airlines show greater transparency after being lobbied by customers to do so, not after being scolded into it by regulators. The hypocrisy stems from being told to be more transparent by a government that is anything but.

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[Perham1]

As a consumer, of course I appreciate having transparency in pricing and product information, although I've never seen anything priced in the US that includes sales tax.

We need to be aware that taxes associated with air travel go beyond mere "sales taxes". In that context your comparison is not apt. To me, this is more like being told the complete price of a hotel room, which includes "special" taxes and levies. One can easily round up the purchase price on a bag of Funyons by 9% to estimate the final price. This is not the case with air fare (or hotels).

So why should airlines be singled out?

So because this is not done for other business segments it shouldn't be done for the airlines? Why does that make sense? Also, do other industries have these hidden fees?

I view this is a way of eliminating hidden fees. So I think this is a good idea.

 

[Oilfield]

I'd like to see the gas stations start displaying their base price for gas without the taxes.

 

[general35]

when i buy an airline ticket online, i always get a cost breakdown of all the taxes and fees.