With airlines collecting a record $1.3 billion in baggage fees\nin the first three months of 2019 \u2013 on top of $7.6 billion in ancillary charges\nlast year \u2013 the American Association of Airport Executives (AAAE) called on\nCongress to update the outdated and arbitrary federal cap on local Passenger\nFacility Charges to spur investment in new runways, terminals, gates and other\nairport improvements that directly benefit flyers.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cAirlines continue to collect billions of dollars in fees\nquarter after quarter, a fact they conveniently forget to mention as they argue\nagainst giving airports more local flexibility to enhance competition and\nimprove facilities for travelers,\u201d AAAE President and CEO Todd Hauptli said.\n\u201cIf a $5 increase in checked bag fees is good business, how can a more modest\nadjustment in the local PFC program be cast as detrimental for travelers? It\u2019s\ntime for Washington to look past the self-serving arguments from the airlines\nand give airports the local tools they need to better serve the traveling\npublic.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
According to data released today by the Department of\nTransportation\u2019s Bureau of Transportation Statistics, airlines set yet another\nnew record with $1.3 billion in baggage fees collected during the first quarter\nthis year. That follows a record $4.9 billion in bag fees in 2018. Airlines\ncollected another $662 million in reservation change and cancellation fees in\nthe first three months of the year after raking in $2.7 billion in ticket fees\nlast year.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Although airlines have increased their bag fees and continue\nto collect record amounts from their customers, they remain opposed to\nadjusting the federal cap on local PFCs, a user fee that must be justified locally,\nimposed locally and used locally on FAA-approved projects that enhance local\nairport facilities. The federal cap on the local PFC has not been adjusted\nsince 2000. Despite misleading airline arguments, the PFC is not a tax and\nnever goes to the federal Treasury, a fact verified by the non-partisan\nCongressional Research Service.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Bag and Ticket Fee Facts<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n Airlines collected nearly $2 billion in baggage and\nreservation change fees in the first quarter of 2019 \u2013 an average of $21.7\nmillion in combined ancillary fees every single day.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Total airline bag and reservation fee collections have\nincreased every year for a decade.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The record in bag fee collections this quarter follows an\nastounding $7.6 billion in bag and ticket fees in 2018.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Since 2008, airlines have charged flyers nearly $69 billion\nin bag and ticket change fees. Bag fees have now exceeded $1 billion every\nquarter for three full years.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Because bag fees are not taxed at the same 7.5 percent\nexcise tax rate applied to base airline tickets, the Airport and Airway Trust\nFund lost more than $367 million in foregone revenue last year alone. Since\n2008, the $39.7 billion in bag fees that are not taxed have cost the Trust Fund\nnearly $3 billion in lost revenue. Those are funds that could have otherwise\nbeen spent on needed airport and air traffic control upgrades.<\/p>\n\n\n\n PFC Facts<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n While airlines raked in $7.6 billion from bag and ticket\nfees last year, airports collectively received $3.5 billion from the PFC in\n2018.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Airlines charged more bag and ticket fees last year than\nairports collected via the PFC in 2017 and 2018 combined.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The federal cap on the PFC has not been adjusted since 2000\n\u2013 more than 19 years ago. The last time Congress increased the PFC cap, roughly\nhalf of U.S. adults used the internet and approximately 35 percent of Americans\nowned a cell phone.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" With airlines collecting a record $1.3 billion in baggage fees in the first three months of 2019 \u2013 on top of $7.6 billion in ancillary charges last year \u2013 the American Association of Airport Executives (AAAE) called on Congress to update the outdated and arbitrary federal cap on local Passenger Facility Charges to spur investment […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":13137,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[115],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-13136","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-national-news"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/stateaviationjournal.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/Sita-bag.jpg","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/stateaviationjournal.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13136","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/stateaviationjournal.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/stateaviationjournal.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stateaviationjournal.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stateaviationjournal.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=13136"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/stateaviationjournal.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13136\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":13139,"href":"https:\/\/stateaviationjournal.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13136\/revisions\/13139"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stateaviationjournal.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/13137"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/stateaviationjournal.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=13136"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stateaviationjournal.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=13136"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stateaviationjournal.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=13136"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}