Three U.S. senators want Frontier Airlines and Spirit Airlines to reveal whether they manipulate seat prices by using customers’ personal information to charge different fares to passengers on the same flight.
Senators Maggie Hassan, Josh Hawley and Richard Blumenthal on Wednesday cited carriers’ decision to request personal information before revealing seat prices, adding that airlines are “apparently using customers’ personal information to charge passengers different fares of the same flight” despite an identical price. The senators said carriers could use consumers’ ZIP codes, search history or other information “to influence prices.”
In a letter, they ask airlines to stop collecting personal information before displaying prices, saying the practice undermines consumer confidence, reduces competition and prevents customers from accurately comparing prices.
Frontier declined to comment. Spirit did not respond to a request for comment. The senators also wrote to Navitaire, the software company owned by Amadeus, to ask whether airlines had asked it to collect data and use it in their pricing algorithms. The company had no immediate comment.
Last month, the bipartisan group of senators took part in a hearing that harshly criticized airlines’ rising baggage and seat assignment fees, calling the fees unfair and emphasizing that every customer is billed differently.
“It’s Russian roulette,” Mr. Hawley said. “No one likes to fly on your airlines. It’s a disaster. … It’s absolutely terrible.
-A report found that five U.S. airlines, including Frontier and Spirit, collectively earned $12.4 billion in revenue from seat fees between 2018 and 2023.
Airlines say the fees are a matter of choice for customers, but recognize they are a key part of their revenue structure as they face rising costs.
A year-long investigation by the Blumenthal Group found that carriers are increasingly using algorithms to set rates.
Frontier and Spirit paid $26 million to gate agents and others between 2022 and 2023 to catch passengers who don’t pay airline-required baggage fees or have items that are too large, the commission said.
Last year, U.S. airlines sued to block the U.S. Department of Transportation’s new rule on disclosing fees up front.
