Spirit Airlines Strikes Back

Because, just as I feared, Congress may try to strike down the Department of Transportation's sensible new rules (see my earlier blog on what those are).

Score one for the airline lobby! And congratulations to Spirit Airline. Your paranoid email to customers (twisting the new regulations to make them seem like a Big Brotherish attempt to hide taxes, rather than a consumer-friendly measures to curb deceptive advertising practices by the airlines) have been effective. Yesterday, Republican Congressman Tom Graves introduced a bill striking down the requirement that the airlines include taxes in the airfares they advertise.

I'll urge you all, once again, to write to your congress people and senators and let them know you think the DOT rules make sense. That you don't want to have to wade through pages of booking forms before you see what the actual prices are. That you're in favor of luggage fees and other fees being clearly listed. To write to your Congressperson, click here. For the address of your senator, click here.

And on the European airlines front...

I'd like to draw your attention to an important article by Bloomberg News on Spanair's shaky brethren. The writers call them "Zombie Airlines", carriers that are only flying because of heavy governmental subsidies, subsidies that could well disappear soon. I highly recommend reading the piece if you're planning on flying to Europe in the next several months. It might be a good spur to buy travel insurance...or choose a more financially stable carrier.