The one silver lining in what has become an ugly partisan impasse in Washington is the break consumers were to get on airline travel starting last weekend. Briefly, talks have stalemated, along with discussions on you-know-what-else, for an FAA re-authorization bill. This weekend the agency partially shut down operations, including ceasing its collection of federal excise taxes on airline tickets.
Consumers could have gotten a break of $60 or so dollars, and depending on the airline, some did. Virgin America, for instance, went on Facebook to advertise its cheaper flights because of the lost tax.
Frontier Airlines and Alaska Airlines also reportedly kept pricing the same.
Meanwhile, American, United, Continental, Delta, US Airways, Southwest, AirTran and JetBlue all raised fares just enough so that consumers would still pay the same amount for the ticket, while they pocketed the savings, according to Gannett’s News-Press.
Furthermore, according to the paper, the airlines declined to reassure flyers that they will revert to the lower fares when the tax is back into affect, although in a Reuters report Air Transport Association spokesperson Jean Medina called it a “short term” increase that benefits all stakeholders because it enables the “airlines to invest in their product and service.”
This is also a good time to highlight something else Reuters included in its report: namely that U.S. airlines have long complained about taxes and security fees, because it is difficult to pass them along to customers.
Well. Way to be good corporate citizens airline industry. The one silver lining in what has become an ugly partisan impasse in Washington is the break consumers were to get on airline travel starting last weekend. Briefly, talks have stalemated, along with discussions on you-know-what-else, for an FAA re-authorization bill. This weekend the agency partially shut down operations, including ceasing its collection of federal excise taxes on airline tickets.
Consumers could have gotten a break of $60 or so dollars, and depending on the airline, some did. Virgin America, for instance, went on Facebook to advertise its cheaper flights because of the lost tax.
Frontier Airlines and Alaska Airlines also reportedly kept pricing the same.
Meanwhile, American, United, Continental, Delta, US Airways, Southwest, AirTran and JetBlue all raised fares just enough so that consumers would still pay the same amount for the ticket, while they pocketed the savings, according to Gannett’s News-Press.
Furthermore, according to the paper, the airlines declined to reassure flyers that they will revert to the lower fares when the tax is back into affect, although in a Reuters report Air Transport Association spokesperson Jean Medina called it a “short term” increase that benefits all stakeholders because it enables the “airlines to invest in their product and service.”
This is also a good time to highlight something else Reuters included in its report: namely that U.S. airlines have long complained about taxes and security fees, because it is difficult to pass them along to customers.
Well. Way to be good corporate citizens airline industry.
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