Southwest Airlines broke
with fellow Air Transport Association members by lending conditional support to
the Department of Transportation's plan to collect more ancillary revenue data
from airlines, according to comments filed this week with regulators.
DOT in July proposed revenue disclosures for 16 ancillary fee
categories, in addition to the baggage fee and change fee revenue that airlines
already report. The additional categories include booking fees, various
inflight services, seat assignments, travel insurance and other ancillary
products and services. The public
comment period on DOT's proposal ended this week.
Southwest—which for years
has sought to distinguish itself by levying far fewer add-on fees than
competitors—generally supported the initiative but asked DOT to reduce the
number of ancillary revenue data categories to six: baggage fees,
itinerary-related fees, airport-related fees, boarding-related fees, onboard
sales and special transportation service fees.
DOT proposes to collect a
more granular level of detail, including for example separate data on checked
bags, overweight bags and carry-on bags. Southwest argued that the six
categories it suggested "are broad enough to encompass future passenger-paid fees that may not
exist today without requiring modifications to the reporting system."
ATA, meanwhile, isn't having
any of it. The airline lobbying group vehemently opposed all DOT's new
disclosure proposals, calling them "public utility-type reporting
requirements" and "unprecedented demands for commercial
information."
While DOT indicated that it
aims to bring more transparency to consumers, ATA pointed out that the
government's proposal relates to historical revenue data, not actual pricing
information, thereby having no impact on price transparency.
ATA argued that public
benefits therefore are not clear. According to the association, DOT
"acknowledges that it has not quantified the benefits" of the proposal,
which is "an extraordinary admission but unsurprising considering the lack
of demonstrable need for the proposals." The Association of Retail Travel
Agents similarly argued that there is little public benefit to the proposals.
Meanwhile, the American
Society of Travel Agents not only supported DOT's proposals, but also suggested
that revenue from additional ancillary fee categories should be disclosed.
Those include priority boarding and additional subcategories for seat
assignments. ASTA added that it is "not convinced ... that there is
much reason to know the revenue achieved from alcoholic drinks," another
ancillary revenue category for which DOT is exploring data collection.