The Hertz location confirmed to me that the fee is nothing new. They didn't say "The charge just went into effect this week." They told me the fee was longstanding, and the Hertz web site just failed to disclose it to me. They offered no explanation for why the web site is inaccurate.

I have no objection to paying bona fide airprot charges. But I object to Hertz failing to disclose them at the time of booking, when a passenger is in a position to shop around. For this rental, I chose Hertz over competitors in part because Hertz promised to be cheaper. (With recent degradations, I see zero reason to pay extra for Hertz, although I used to do so.) In fact that promise was false -- grounded in false advertising, not in a genuine price advantage.