NCL applauds Sen. Rockefeller for investigating airline fees – National Consumers League

August 20, 2014

For immediate release: August 20, 2014
Contact: Ben Klein, National Consumers League, benk@nclnet.org, (202) 835-3323

Washington, DC—The National Consumers League, the nation’s oldest consumer advocacy organization, today applauded Senator Jay Rockefeller for opening an inquiry into airline passenger fees and consumer data privacy policies.

Last year, NCL published a groundbreaking report examining the troubling correlation between rising cancellation/change fees, the high cost of refundable tickets and the misleading marketing of travel insurance products. Among the recommendations in the report was a call for Congressional oversight hearings to examine these issues. NCL is therefore particularly encouraged by Senator Rockefeller’s request for information from ten major U.S. airlines about cancellation and change fees and travel insurance revenues.

The following statement is attributable to Sally Greenberg, National Consumers League (NCL) Executive Director:

“Consumers are fed up with the ever-growing list of add-on fees that airlines are piling on top of basic airfares. These fees are contributing to record airline industry profits at a time when consumers’ travel budgets remain strapped due to the sluggish economic recovery. To make matters worse, many of these fees are poorly disclosed and the sale of travel of travel insurance and the coverage it provides is deceptively advertised. This makes comparison-shopping all but impossible for millions of American travelers. We applaud Senator Rockefeller for launching this important investigation and look forward to a robust accounting of the impact of these fees and deceptive insurance products on consumers.”

###

About the National Consumers League
The National Consumers League, founded in 1899, is America’s pioneer consumer organization. Our mission is to protect and promote social and economic justice for consumers and workers in the United States and abroad. For more information, visit www.nclnet.org.