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Senators question if Frontier, Spirit Airlines are manipulating seat rates

Three U.S. senators said they want Frontier Airlines and Spirit Airlines to divulge whether they are manipulating seat costs by using customers' individual details to charge different costs to passengers on the same flight.

Senators Maggie Hassan, Josh Hawley and Richard Blumenthal cited on Wednesday the providers' choice to request individual info before exposing seat fees, adding the airlines were apparently using customers' personal info to charge various seat costs to guests on the exact same flight regardless of having the very same fare. The senators said the carriers might be using consumers' postal code, search history or other details to influence rates.

In a letter, they contacted the airlines to stop gathering personal info before revealing charges, saying it undermines customers' confidence, decreases competitors and avoids customers from precisely comparing costs.

Frontier decreased to comment. Spirit did not respond to a. ask for remark. The senators also wrote to Amadeus-owned. software company Navitaire asking if the airlines had. asked it collect data and use it in their pricing algorithms. The company did not instantly comment.

Last month, the bipartisan group of senators participated in a. hearing that roughly slammed increasing airline fees for baggage. and seat projects, calling the costs unjust and noting how. various clients are charged differently.

This is Russian live roulette, Hawley said. Nobody delights in. flying on your airlines. It's a disaster. ... It's absolutely. dreadful.

A report divulged that 5 U.S. airline companies, including. Frontier and Spirit, collectively made $12.4 billion in. profits from seat charges in between 2018 and 2023.

Airline companies state the costs are about consumer option but. acknowledge the charges are a key part of their income. structure as they deal with increasing expenses.

A year-long examination by Blumenthal's panel discovered that. providers are progressively using algorithms to set charges.

Frontier and Spirit paid $26 million to gate agents and. others between 2022 and 2023 to capture guests not paying the. airline company's required bag costs or having extra-large items, the. committee stated.

Last year, U.S. airline companies took legal action against to block the U.S. Transport Department's new rule on upfront charge disclosure.

(source: Reuters)