[AADFW]

Originally Posted by PHXFlyer

Why should airlines be treated differently from any other business?

They should be treated differently because it is in the prevailing public interest to do so. Airlines operate in a space of finite capacity and the industry maintains the infrastructure for a public service. Regulation thereof is appropriate when the operators, left to their own devices, will behave in a way that is contrary to the best interests of consumers. That’s precisely what is starting to happen now.

While prices have fallen and safety has improved in the industry since deregulation, U.S. airlines still haven’t managed to make very much money. In recent years, airline management has been rightfully determined to reverse this problem by reshuffling revenue and marketing models. We’re already seeing the early results, and they are not pretty: fees for everything under the sun, dishonest pricing practices, lower service standards, and less regard for customer satisfaction in general.

Originally Posted by PHXFlyer

If you're not completely satisfied with your Dominos Pizza they aren't obligated to give you a refund.

Yes, but the pizza can’t hold you hostage in an airport or metal tube for hours or days, in many cases without access to food, water, or sanitary toilets. Besides, who said anything about “completely satisfied?” I was talking specifically about delays that are within the airline’s control.

Originally Posted by PHXFlyer

If it's just a delay I don't see anything wrong with compensation in the form of travel vouchers or even frequent flier miles.

The point of cash-based compensation is to regulate; it is to make airlines sit up and pay attention to the problem because it will hurt their bottom line if they don’t. In addition, travel vouchers and frequent flier miles are only useful provided that the consumer plans to use the same carrier again… a condition that he or she did not subscribe to when making the original purchase of the delayed conveyance.

Originally Posted by PHXFlyer

Actually, the pricing that does show when booking on the internet is just how the FTC wants it.

That’s debatable, and it is precisely why I am advocating a change in the status quo; so that consumers will be able to make informed decisions with respect to what they’ll actually pay when the transaction is fully processed.

Originally Posted by PHXFlyer

Same base fare, origin and destination, but if you were shopping an internet booking engine and the prices displayed were...

Delta - $225.60
United - $236.20

...which would you choose if price was your major determining factor?

This example serves only to wholly endorse the very basis of my argument rather than to refute it, yet the conclusion drawn is a perversion only a U.S. airline lobbyist or someone very eager to defend the industry could possibly manage:

Originally Posted by PHXFlyer

That is why prices are before taxes and fees. With an equal playing field on price the customer can then choose based on other factors such as convenience of a non-stop vs. connection, departure/arrival times, brand loyalty, etc.

The end price is the end price – plain and simple! Consumers are capable of making choices on the basis of all those factors, and they deserve to know the full story in advance! How could anyone reasonably argue otherwise?!?

Originally Posted by PHXFlyer

As for the miscellaneous service fees that the airlines are charging these days, if they thought those fees were cutting into their business in a significant way they'd stop collecting them. Of course expect fares to increase accordingly.

The problem is that consumers are not duly informed of the whole truth in advance. For example, let’s say an airline advertises a $200 airfare from Dallas to London. When a consumer jumps on that deal, and it then turns out that it’s really one-way based on r/t travel, and that the airline is also going to add a $200 fuel surcharge, all of a sudden with taxes the total is closer to $750.

Sure, at the end of the day that consumer doesn’t have to buy the ticket, but that person has just wasted his or her time determining that what they thought was being offered wasn’t the truth. These pricing practices are sleazy, dishonest, and underhanded. So is charging someone to use the toilet on board, or extorting $150 from someone who wants to bring a pet on board an airplane in a carry-on bag. My argument is not that the airlines are doing anything illegal with respect to these practices, but that they ought to be regulated because American consumers deserve better. We definitely deserve honest truth in advertising. Let the fare be the whole fare!

Originally Posted by PHXFlyer

Personally the fees don't bother me.

Good for you. I’d wager you’re in the minority.

Originally Posted by PHXFlyer

I'd rather know that for all the times I traveled without one my fare wasn't subsidizing people who pack half of their belongings for a weekend trip.

Point taken, but with respect to fees the airlines are behaving a bit like drunken sailors on shore leave that have just discovered a whorehouse. The fees for everything they can think of are becoming excessive. While the fees may eventually adjust to the tolerance of the marketplace, many consumers will be unfairly hurt in the interim. Just as the law protects consumers from loan sharks, so should we be protected from the whims of an industry who’s role is to provide a service so fundamental to our national welfare.