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Southwest Airlines Community

Support Transparent Airfare

mwhalin
Explorer A
Did you know that approximately 20 percent of total ticket costs go toward federal taxes?  Did you also know that airlines are required by the Department of Transportation (DOT) to advertise the full price including our fare and all taxes? The DOT rule enables the government’s increased taxes to effectively go unnoticed by those who pay them.  Air fare looks deceptively higher than it really is due to the federal taxes that are buried within. As such, air travel appear less competitively priced than other forms of transportation, including buses, rail, and even rental cars that are able to advertise fares without taxes embedded. Simply put, this regulation is not pro-consumer, it is pro-government. Recently the Transparent Airfare Act was introduced and has passed out of the House Transportation & Infrastructure committee.  Airlines 4 America (A4A), our industry trade association, has created an online tool to help show support for the Transparent Airfare Act. Take a moment to visit http://www.airfaretransparency.com/ and ask Congress to support transparent airfares allowing consumers to see how much of their ticket price is actually going towards federal taxes!
6 Comments
bh10908
Explorer C
Informative post. Shameful that the government is able to hide taxes in airline ticket prices and then make the airlines shoulder the blame. I went to the website to log my dissatisfaction, but in the end I was not comfortable providing all the information I was asked to enter. Is there any other way to support transparency in ticket prices?
steelestreet
Explorer C
Southwest is on the wrong side of this issue. Transparency means knowing the price you see is the price you pay, not hiding taxes and fees until the last screen. This legislation is extremely anti-consumer. All the airlines are supporting it, and all the bloggers and consumer advocates are against it. It is a shame that Southwest is following the wrong crowd.
vaboywnder
Explorer C
I have to disagree. The Transparent Airfare Act makes it more difficult to the consumer shopping for airfare. It's nice to be able to see the final prices upfront of all airline tickets so there are no surprises when you go to check out. Taxes and fees are displayed when you check out anyway so it's not like the government is trying to hide them. When an airline advertises a $69 airfare sale that is the price including taxes and fees. If the Transparent Airfare Act goes into effect it will make airfare prices go up because the airline can advertise the lower price before taxes and fees which make them more profitable.
mwhalin
Explorer A
Hi Bryan - Thanks for visiting A4A's site. We will keep you posted on other ways you can help. Feel free to share the website with family and friends to help spread the word!
mwhalin
Explorer A
Hi Bryan - Thanks for visiting A4A's site. We will keep you posted on other ways you can help. Feel free to share the website with family and friends to help spread the word!
scottnearsmf
Adventurer B
If this is a major point with Southwest, build into the pricing screen that you are paying this amount in taxes and add a link on the final confirmation screen to a "petition to reduce taxes" website or screen. All the DOT regulation does is asks the airline to price airfares the way is gasoline is priced after-tax. Those considering other transportatin that is priced before tax can walk through the screen and get the after tax price.