Fliers still get tangled in web of airline fees when searching sites

By Roger Yu USA TODAY

New government rules require airlines to be more transparent in disclosing fees they charge for services that were once part of the base fare.

With stiff competition weakening their ability to raise prices, airlines have been introducing a la carte fees for checking bags, food, changing flights, pillows and seat selection.

The move has paid off for the industry. U.S. airlines collected $1.38 billion in ancillary fees in the first three months of the year. But it's also triggered some consumer outrage. That many customers have trouble finding fee information and prepaying them adds to the backlash.

Airlines have insisted all along that fees are listed on their websites. But federal regulators weren't convinced and told the airlines in August fees must be "prominently disclosed."

Posing as an online shopper wishing to check bags and purchase in-flight food and Wi-Fi connection, we tried several major airlines' websites to gauge how the industry is embracing the new requirement.

On our tests, we found that locating fee information requires bouncing around and drilling down several pages on the sites -- easy for tech-savvy travelers, but likely a challenge for many others.

Of the four carriers we tried, only American Airlines lists the most relevant fees all on one page. However, American, along with US Airways, places the fee information hyperlinks under its news section, which most customers wouldn't find intuitive.

Unlike shopping for shoes or computers, air travel consumers are still limited in their ability to customize their purchases. None of the carriers let us pay the most relevant fees at the time of ticket purchase, which requires an unwanted stop at the airport to pay an agent or at a kiosk.

Kevin Mitchell, chairman of Business Travel Coalition, says airlines "have not gone out of their way" to comply with new rules because fees are a rich source of revenue. "They have put (fee) information in places that are hard to find," he says. "There's profit in confusion. They have every incentive not to make it happen."

The Air Transport Association, which represents major airlines, told federal regulators that airlines have avoided providing an "individualized statement of fees" because a passenger's status can change rapidly and people may not want to prepay.

The industry may not have any choice next year, when the Transportation Department plans a new rule that would require airlines to fix their websites so that customers can pay for some fees in advance. Here's a what we found: