Outline of Statement: 

Arthur B. Sackler 

Executive Director 

Open Allies for Airfare Transparency 

Advisory Committee for Aviation Consumer Protection

June 28, 2012 

Open Allies is here today because we believe fairness demands that consumers must be 

enabled to see, compare and buy all-in airfares at any outlet with which an airline does 

business. 

• To do that, must jumpstart a market that isn’t working because data on fees is not 

being made available 

• Don’t just take our word for it: look to GAO, which titled a 2010 report in part: 

“Consumers Could Benefit from Better Information about Airline-Imposed Fees” 

• Look to the FTC, with jurisdiction over unfair and deceptive practices that parallels 

DOT’s on air travel, which says that: “withhold[ing] or fail[ing] to generate critical 

price . . . data...leav[es] buyers with insufficient information for informed 

comparisons.. . [which]undermines an essential precondition to a free and informed 

consumer transaction, and, in turn, to a well-functioning market.” 

• Look to DOT itself – where disclosure has been so central to its truth-in-advertising 

regulations; 

• Or, most viscerally, to consumers themselves – more than 60,000 of whom in less 

than a month signed a petition to the Secretary urging full disclosure of fees. 

Open Allies represents nearly 400 independent travel distributors, and works closely w 

consumer orgs 

• Travel agents, OTAs, corporate travel managers, TMCs (travel agents for big corps), 

GDSs (organizers and conduits of fare data from airlines to agents), and more 

• Several of the organizations speaking today are members of Open Allies 

• More than 50% of all airline tickets are sold through the independent channel 

Open Allies appreciates the opp to appear today 

• Members were pleased Congress directed the formation of this advisory comm 

• DOT has been doing a good job on consumer issues, but expert advice can’t help but 

help 

• Perhaps the overriding issue for air travel consumers: airline ancillary fees 

Our members are united in the view that full disclosure is key to resolving the controversy 

 surrounding fees 
Open Allies Summary, p2 

• Full disclosure means transparency, transactability, and dynamic presentation of 

fees 

• Should apply, at least, to “core” fees – those unbundled from traditional airline fares, 

such as baggage or seating 

• Enabling consumers to compare, on their selected itineraries, all-in prices, applesto-apples, across airlines, at all sales outlets where airlines choose to do bus 

• This is no simple b2b squabble; this is about vindicating the interests of consumers 

o Not about GDS/Airline negotiations 

o It’s about ensuring consumers have all the info they need to make informed 

choices; that they are not disadvantaged by airlines withholding data 

• Open Allies takes no position on fees themselves, but once fees are charged, they 

must be fully disclosed 

o It’s a new world: fees appear here to stay 

o We ask only that business and leisure air travelers not be kept in the dark 

Failure to fully disclose is “unfair” to consumers 

• As a matter of common sense, traditional expectations in commerce, and avoiding 

unpleasant experiences at airports 

o Accustomed to comparison shopping for air travel for decades 

 The pioneer in digitization, e-commerce and comparison shopping 

 Still one of, if not the, largest segment of e-commerce 

 W that track record, shdn’t be going backwards 

o Unpleasantness not just in unexpected additional fees, but in seating and 

preboarding of families with small children, and others 

• In the legal sense under DOT jurisdiction – Parallel to FTC Section 5 

o In the end, the FTC unfairness policy targets outcomes – intentional or 

inadvertent -- that “may prevent consumers from effectively making their 

own decisions” 

o The current DOT rule is a solid first step toward full disclosure, but more 

needs to be done, as the Department recognizes. 

“Consumers” means more than individual air travelers and families 

• Full disclosure is vital to businesses, too 

o As you heard from Kevin Mitchell, corporate travel departments and TMCs 

must have it to budget for and track travel spend 

o Travel agents, OTAs and others need it in order to meet consumers’ needs

Why full disclosure is vital to protecting consumers 

• Prerequisite for true comparison shopping 

• Transparency is necessary, but not sufficient, to establish comparison shopping 

• Transactability is essential: consumers must be able to purchase what they see, and 

independent sellers must be able to sell it to them

• Dynamic presentation ensures all fee information is current. Static presentation on 

airline sites presented in ranges and changed once a quarter offers not only no 

precise information on fees, but no information at all on availability 
Open Allies Summary, p3 

• Saves on search time which DOT values at $42/hr; multiplied over the universe of 

consumers searching for air travel, that number is huge 

• Spurs competitive pricing 

Technology for independent distribution of fully disclosed fees is available and in use 

• Effective software protocols developed among industries, including the carriers, 

through ATPCO, and fully tested by more than two dozen airlines, are in use 

• GDS technology is state-of-the-art, using 21st Century mainframes and server 

technology, and already is handling detailed fee information for a number of 

airlines, including airline customization of services to individual consumers. It’s not 

your father’s GDS. Joe Rubin will address this issue in some depth. 

What Open Allies does not want: 

• To force airlines to do business with any entity with which they do not choose to do 

bus 

• To force airlines to share fee information with any entity with which they are not 

doing business 

Unbundling – with full disclosure – has benefits for all 

• Needed additional revenue stream for airlines -- $32B/$15B/2011 

• Comparison shopping for consumers 

• Passengers pay only for services being used, and at competitive prices 

• Innovation will enhance marketing, revenues and jobs 

Open Allies believes the best way DOT can protect consumers is to compel full disclosure in 

Consumer Rulemaking III 

• No airline wants to look more expensive than its competitors 

• There are marketing advantages to opacity 

• Airlines have ignored the voices of consumers, including the 60,000 who signed the 

petition to DOT, media reports, Members of Congress, and their best business 

partners and customers, and have declined to provide full disclosure voluntarily 

Conclusion: Consumers must be enabled to see, compare and buy fares and fees. The only 

way that will happen is if the market works. And the only way the market will work is if 

DOT gives it a push and jumpstarts it, which is what we urge your advice to the Department 

to be.