Dec. 4 (UPI) — Executives from United, Delta, American Spirit and Frontier airlines will testify Wednesday to defend billions of dollars in airline seating fees at a U.S. Senate subcommittee hearing.
U.S. airlines pulled in $12.4 billion from the fees between 2018 and 2023m which Sen. Richard Blumenthal, D-Conn., the chair of the U.S. Senate Permanent Subcommittee on Investigations slammed as “sky high” in a majority staff report released in November.
“Airlines these days view their customers as little more than walking piggy banks to be shaken down for every possible dime,” Sen. Richard Blumenthal, D-Conn., said in a statement ahead of the hearing.
The report found airlines are using strategies to specifically use ancillary fees to grow revenue and boost profits resulting in what the report called “higher costs and negative experiences for consumers.”
American Airlines chief strategy officer Stephen Johnson said in written testimony to the subcommittee that its seat selection products “are all voluntary.”
“For customers who value sitting in more in-demand locations, we do offer the opportunity to pay for more desirable seats.”
The report said Frontier Airlines paid a $10 commission to its workers for each bag a passenger is forced to check at the gate.
Frontier said in a statement when the report was released that the commission for gate agents is “simply designed to incentivize our team members to ensure compliance with bag size requirements so that all customers are treated equally and fairly, including the majority who comply with the rules.”
The Biden administration has worked to eliminate airline “junk fees,” proposing a new rule in August that would ban airline fees for family seating that assures members of a family will be seated adjacent to each other.
The effort is part of a larger effort by the Biden administration against “junk fees” across several economic sectors.
Blumenthal said in a statement included in the November report on airline fees, “I will be asking airlines to justify these practices when they testify on December 4th before my Permanent Subcommittee on Investigations.”