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U.S. Congressional Action to Change How Airfares are Advertised.

U.S. Congressional Action to Change How Airfares are Advertised.

Old Apr 18, 2014, 1:57 pm
  #91  
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Originally Posted by duniawala
Oh lordy lordy. Make this a socialist country, really?
.... as in socialize the costs/losses of big airlines while privatizing the profits from the same. Already there.
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Old Apr 18, 2014, 4:33 pm
  #92  
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Originally Posted by duniawala
Oh lordy lordy. Make this a socialist country, really?
"Enacting laws that help citizens" does not make a country "socialist." Have a cup of Merriam-Webster.

http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/socialism
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Old Apr 20, 2014, 10:03 pm
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Originally Posted by javabytes
As long as all the airline-imposed fees are required to be included in the advertised price, I don't see what the big deal is. I couldn't care less if the government-imposed taxes aren't calculated until checkout. That's how every other purchase I make goes.
And for some people, including me, that is also a deceptive practice (i.e. not showing the full price until checkout). It's also not universally true, such as when purchasing gas, as discussed above.

Last edited by timfountain; Apr 20, 2014 at 10:13 pm
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Old Apr 20, 2014, 10:12 pm
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Originally Posted by Jerseyguy
Whats to stop cosumers seeing this now? Laziness. Americans are lazy, plain and simple, not enough people care. The way things are now, people look at the $300 fare that includes taxes and doesn't really comprehend that $50 of it are going to the goverment/airport That $50 turns into $70 because the tax goes up, most people think, greedy airline is charging me more now. Some people might hear a story about it but even those people will forget a month later and then blame the airline. When they see $250 for the airfare, click next and its suddenly $300, they realize that hey yeah, the goverments taking $50 from me (whether they think this is a reasonable fee for what the goverment does thats irrelevant). PS there is no misleading of the public by doing this, X is the amount charged by the airline Y is the amount charged by the goverment and the airports. Might be easier for the consumer but its unfair to the airline. Europe does it where they quote the total price including VAT but if I charged that much in taxes, I'd sure want it to be harder for the citizens to realize it.
I understand your point, but at the end of the day it doesn't matter. You can't negotiate the taxes and your only choice is to fly or not. I think a more equitable solution would be to force the airlines to breakdown the exact elements of the ticket pricing, at the time of purchase....

Longer term you can vote for change, assuming you can find a congresscritter who will make this part of their ticket (hint no-one would).
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Old Apr 23, 2014, 12:01 am
  #95  
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There's one point that everyone seems to have missed:

We pay taxes for a functioning government. The taxes on airline tickets pay for airports, ATC, security, DOT operations (including the complaints division that is often discussed on FT), customs and immigration, and other services that directly benefit airlines and their passengers.

We can argue about the efficiency and value of these services, but these are real services that directly benefit the airlines. They cannot function without them. Period.

They need to include these costs in their advertised prices (although they are free to itemize them, just as they are free to itemize the amount of the CEO's salary and the advertising budget that we pay with each airfare).
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Old Apr 23, 2014, 2:02 am
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The New York Times has published an editorial against the proposed legislation.
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Old Apr 23, 2014, 2:19 am
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Originally Posted by st1575
The New York Times has published an editorial against the proposed legislation.
Glad to see that done. Hopefully this helps weaken the push of the industry lobbyists/apologists who want to undermine the interests of consumers with Congressional assistance.
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Old Apr 24, 2014, 12:18 am
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Originally Posted by st1575
The New York Times has published an editorial against the proposed legislation.
Did they signs it? When is that? Hopefully they will find a better cheap price. Please no more than $300 or $400 ticket price.
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Old May 1, 2014, 12:05 am
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Everyone,

Please sign the petition!!!

http://www.change.org/petitions/us-s...uiter=69006325

Go on. Please sign the petition!!!
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Old May 1, 2014, 9:57 am
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Originally Posted by N830MH
Did they signs it? When is that? Hopefully they will find a better cheap price. Please no more than $300 or $400 ticket price.
Not sure where your $300 to $400 is coming from, but you don't really think ticket prices would be capped, do you?
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Old May 1, 2014, 5:17 pm
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The reason local gas stations aren't forced to market an all-in price is it'd be an absolute nightmare to enforce, since taxes change from state to state, county to county, and even city to city. Imagine the burden that would put on a giant restaurant chain to print up menus for every county specifically, or McDonalds to manufacture menus for every single locality in which they operate. The taxes consumers encounter (on a macro level) by and large are not predictable. On an airline ticket they are absolutely predictable so there is no reason to not ask the entire cost be displayed.
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Old May 1, 2014, 5:42 pm
  #102  
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Originally Posted by bthotugigem05
The reason local gas stations aren't forced to market an all-in price is it'd be an absolute nightmare to enforce, since taxes change from state to state, county to county, and even city to city.
I don't know how it works in Texas, but here in California, gas stations are required to market an all-in price.
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Old May 1, 2014, 6:28 pm
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I don't know how it works in Texas
Better

gas stations are required to market an all-in price
That's the case in Texas as well, for the gasoline. My example was referring to the things people buy inside the gas station (snacks, sugar, caffeine, caffeinated sugar snacks, etc.). Could've worded it better, apologies.

And the fact that gasoline must be advertised at full-"fare" actually blows a hole in the airline industry's argument that they're the only ones forced to do so.
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Old May 1, 2014, 7:13 pm
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Originally Posted by bthotugigem05
Imagine the burden that would put on a giant restaurant chain to print up menus for every county specifically, or McDonalds to manufacture menus for every single locality in which they operate.
McDonalds hasn't used paper menus in years. The one where I buy my McIcedCoffee has even gone to using overhead computer monitors to display menu options. Makes it quite easy for them to change prices or rotate in seasonal/limited time menu items- it's all in the software the manager can tweak as need be.

And the sit down chains actually already frequently vary their menu items a little from restaurant to restaurant based on what sells well in different regions. No big deal for them to have different prices in different places either, save for the occasional nationally advertised promotions.
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Old May 1, 2014, 8:01 pm
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Originally Posted by bthotugigem05
Imagine the burden that would put on a giant restaurant chain to print up menus for every county specifically, or McDonalds to manufacture menus for every single locality in which they operate.
Oh no, poor little McDonalds is going to have to spend soooo much money keeping track of all the taxes in different areas!

This sounds like when Amazon was complaining that they shouldn't have to collect sales tax because it would be too difficult to keep track of the tax rates in different cities. Now they have started collecting sales tax in several states, and this hasn't caused their computers to crash yet.

There aren't all that many different tax rates. For example, California has hundreds of cities and counties, but around 2/3 of them have a tax rate of either 7.5% or 8%. I'm sure any kid with a computer science degree could write the necessary software to handle their menu printing.
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