The US equivalent of Abta is urging corporate travel managers in the UK and across Europe to write to US legislators ahead of discussions on whether to regulate airline ‘unbundling’ of fares.
The American Society of Travel Agents (ASTA) joined the US-based Business Travel Coalition (BTC) in writing to travel managers as the US Department of Transportation considers legislation that could require carriers to disclose all ancillary fee information to fare distributors.
Airlines increasingly charge for a range of services previously included in fares, such as checking-in bags, but most of the charges are unavailable through global distribution systems (GDSs) used by travel agents and travel management companies (TMCs). This means customers can only see the full cost of a flight ahead of booking when transacting on carriers’ own websites.
US airlines have gone further down the road of unbundling fares in this way than those in Europe, and ASTA and the BTC want the carriers compelled to make fee information generally available.
They say in the letter: “Airlines have refused to provide TMCs with this vital information. Unfortunately, normal competitive forces will not alleviate the situation. . . The marketplace winner is not the airline offering the best value, but the one that does the best job of concealing its true all-in prices.
“There are hundreds of thousands of possible fare and fee combinations for any trip . . . The only way for consumers to know what a given trip is going to cost is . . if the airlines provide ancillary fee information in the same electronic, transactable formats used to provide fare information.”
ASTA and the BTC urge travel managers to write to the US House and Senate Conference Committee by April 19.