Gina Green of Colorado Springs relaxed at Denver International Airport on Tuesday and let both the airlines and Congress have it.
Congress last week failed to pass legislation to keep nonessential parts of the Federal Aviation Administration operating — inaction that resulted in federal taxes on airline tickets temporarily disappearing.
Most airlines then decided that despite the vanishing taxes, they would raise fares to match what the fares would have been with the taxes in place.
Potential airfare savings weren’t passed to consumers.
“I think it is unfair,” said Green, who criticized Congress for inaction. She then blasted the airlines.
“They are taking advantage of the situation,” Green said. “I would hope they’d keep the average person in mind when they make these decisions. It makes me mad.”
Ken Schlueter, a retired school principal from Orange County, Calif., said his first thought was, “What a ripoff! One way or another, they are going to make money.”
“Every little detail is being taxed or charged for,” Schlueter said of flying. “We have this windfall perception” of the airlines.
Schlueter said the airlines may have a plan to use the “windfall” to assist consumers — such as eventually providing free meals or not charging for luggage.
“What is the benefit to the public? I will have to wait and see,” Schlueter said. “I would hope for (free meals and luggage), but I’m not holding my breath.”
The airline industry defends the price hike.
Jean Medina, spokeswoman for the Air Transport Association, the trade group for the industry, said the flying public is not hurt.
“Consumers are not impacted, generally, paying the same ticket prices as last week,” Medina said. “This short-term additional revenue for airlines . . . benefits all stakeholders — customers, employees and investors — by temporarily improving the tiny industry margins to better cover costs and enable airlines to invest in their product and service.
“Carriers lost $1 billion in the first quarter alone, due in large part to escalating fuel prices,” Medina said, adding that the industry has lost $54 billion in the past 10 years.
Frontier Airlines said it raised its fares to reflect the amount of the taxes “so our fares are now, basically, the same as they were prior to the tax expiration.”
Chris Mainz, Southwest Airlines spokesman, said the bottom line is that the consumer won’t see any change.
“This is a very difficult environment, with oil being the wild card,” Mainz said. “The fare increase . . . is to offset the high cost of fuel.”
Howard Pankratz: 303-954-1939 or hpankratz@denverpost.com
