FAA Shutdown: Which Airlines Are Cashing In And Which Are Spreading The Love -
In case you didn't know, the FAA was forced to partially shutdown at midnight on Friday after Congress failed to resolve a dispute over the agency's funding.
It's been estimated that the shutdown will cost the government $200 million per week in lost revenue from airline ticket taxes. CBS News reports that theuncollected tax will come out to roughly $61 per domestic ticket.
As Gadling reported on Saturday, there were a few airlines who were "treating" their customers to tax breaks, including Virgin America, who refused to increase fares as a result and has since launched an "Evade Taxes. Take Flight." sale.
Airlinereporter.com is also reporting that Alaska Airlines, Spirit Airlines, and Frontier Airlines are all sharing the love with their customers.
On the greedy side, American, United, Continental, Delta, US Airways, Southwest, AirTran and JetBlue have allraised fares to varying degrees, the Associated Press reports. Most of the increases hovered around 7.5 percent.
Southwest and AirTran have increased fares by $4-each way to offset industry pressures. Southwest rep Brad Hawkins told Airlinereporter.com: "Our current ticket prices will remain the same (Customers will not see an increase in fares), as the 7.5% excise tax will not be collected. These decisions were made in light of the recent industry change in aviation tax collections, and we made a business decisions to remain competitive in these economically challenging times."
The moral of the story? In the next few days (if not weeks) think before you buy a plane ticket.
Read more -
http://news.travel.aol.com/2011/07/24/faa-shutdown-which-airlines-are-cashing-in-and-which-are-spread/
In case you didn't know, the FAA was forced to partially shutdown at midnight on Friday after Congress failed to resolve a dispute over the agency's funding.
It's been estimated that the shutdown will cost the government $200 million per week in lost revenue from airline ticket taxes. CBS News reports that theuncollected tax will come out to roughly $61 per domestic ticket.
As Gadling reported on Saturday, there were a few airlines who were "treating" their customers to tax breaks, including Virgin America, who refused to increase fares as a result and has since launched an "Evade Taxes. Take Flight." sale.
Airlinereporter.com is also reporting that Alaska Airlines, Spirit Airlines, and Frontier Airlines are all sharing the love with their customers.
On the greedy side, American, United, Continental, Delta, US Airways, Southwest, AirTran and JetBlue have allraised fares to varying degrees, the Associated Press reports. Most of the increases hovered around 7.5 percent.
Southwest and AirTran have increased fares by $4-each way to offset industry pressures. Southwest rep Brad Hawkins told Airlinereporter.com: "Our current ticket prices will remain the same (Customers will not see an increase in fares), as the 7.5% excise tax will not be collected. These decisions were made in light of the recent industry change in aviation tax collections, and we made a business decisions to remain competitive in these economically challenging times."
The moral of the story? In the next few days (if not weeks) think before you buy a plane ticket.
Read more -
http://news.travel.aol.com/2011/07/24/faa-shutdown-which-airlines-are-cashing-in-and-which-are-spread/
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