Congress Wants to Allow Airlines to Deceive You on Pricing – Again

I can’t believe I’m writing this again. And by again, I mean I wrote a similar piece back in 2017 when Rep. Bill Shuster, R-Pa (no longer in Congress), wanted to do the same thing.

2012: Truth In Advertising law passed

In 2012, a Truth in Advertising bill was passed that made it illegal for airlines to advertise anything but all-in airfares. It was perfectly fine for an ad to say:

$89*

*Plus $486 in taxes and fees.

Since the bill’s passage in 2012, you now can only be shown this:

Since 2012’s bill passage, you now would see this:

$575

It’s not just tax. If a domestic flight was $99 plus $5.60 in fees and that was the ad, I wouldn’t care so much.

But remember that airlines can add in all of their own junk fees like the famous YQ (formerly “fuel surcharges” and now really “fees we added because we can add” fees).

So you could have a $100 base fare, $5.60 in tax, and $700 in YQ and the ad could say $100 plus taxes and fees and when you got to checkout, the flight would cost $805.60.

Are you capable of doing the math with the fine print? I’m sure you can! Should you have to? Absolutely not!!

So in what I can only call “Crazytown” your legislators are hard at work to once again try to bow to the airline lobby and screw YOU.

New Proposal to Bow to Special Interests at Your Expense

As reported by the AP last night, inside a 773-page proposal to reauthorize FAA programs for the next five years, is a little bitty item that rolls back these rules.

Per AP: “One provision of the House bill would let airlines advertise the “base airfare” — excluding taxes and fees — as long as they include a link to the all-in price or disclose it some other way.”

What can you do? Call or write your local elected representative and let them know how much this would bother you and that the people – not the corporations – should be their primary concern. After all, you vote them in and you can vote them out.

Thoughts?

Let me know below in the comments, on Twitter, or in the private MilesTalk Facebook group. And don't forget to follow me on Instagram for all sorts of tips on miles, points, credit cards, and travel.

If this post helped you, please consider sharing it!

You can find credit cards that best match your spending habits and bonus categories at Your Best Credit Cards. 

New to all of this? My “introduction to miles and points” book, MilesTalk: Live Your Wildest Travel Dreams Using Miles and Points is available on Amazon and at major booksellers.