Blumenthal, Markey, & Warren Call on Administration to Promote Airline Competition, Act on Executive Order

WASHINGTON– U.S. Senators Richard Blumenthal (D-CT), Edward J. Markey (D-MA), and Elizabeth Warren (D-MA) today called on the Administration to follow through with a recent Executive Order to promote competitive markets in all sectors, including airline pricing. Price comparison websites – like Travelocity, Priceline, and Kayak – help promote competition in the airline industry by allowing consumers to make apples-to-apples comparisons among fares and flights, but recent reports indicate that airlines are refusing to provide flight information to these sites. In a letter to Director of the National Economic Council Jeffrey Zients today, the Senators urged him to recommend that the Department of Transportation (DOT) use its existing authority to promote a transparent, competitive marketplace that allows consumers to easily make good purchasing decisions.   

“Given the unprecedented level of consolidation within the airline industry, it is more important than ever that Americans maintain the ability to comparison shop,” the Senators wrote. “Accordingly, we write to raise our concerns about potentially anticompetitive and anti-consumer behavior among airlines that may be suppressing consumer ability to make informed flight decisions. We believe such practices are damaging to consumers and potentially violate our existing consumer protection laws that promote competition in the air transportation industry. Such actions would run directly counter to the President’s goal of promoting a competitive marketplace, and we urge you to recommend the Department of Transportation (DOT) to use its existing statutory authority to ensure that consumers have unfettered access to airlines’ flight schedule and pricing information.”

Senators Blumenthal and Markey sent a letter to the DOT in March requesting the Secretary use its existing authority to promote transparent price competition that will allow consumers to quickly and easily make good purchasing decisions, but the Department has yet to take that action.

The text of the letter is available here and below.

Dear Mr. Zients:

Earlier this year, the President issued Executive Order (E.O.) 13725, directing executive departments and agencies to identify specific actions they can take to address undue burdens on competition and improve consumer access to information needed to make informed purchasing decisions, thereby supporting economic growth. We share the President’s goal of ensuring consumers and workers have the information they need to make informed choices. Accordingly, we write to raise our concerns about potentially anticompetitive and anti-consumer behavior among airlines that may be suppressing consumer ability to make informed flight decisions. Such actions would run directly counter to the President’s goal of promoting a competitive marketplace, and we urge you to recommend the Department of Transportation (DOT) to use its existing statutory authority to ensure that consumers have unfettered access to airlines’ flight schedule and pricing information.

The traveling public depends on third-party price comparison sites to make apples-to-apples comparisons among fares and flights and to select the best price, schedule, and airport from all available options. Unfortunately, some airlines appear to be taking steps to restrict consumer access to fare and schedule information on such sites. For example, Delta prohibits certain third-party price comparison travel websites, including online travel agents (OTAs) and “meta-search” websites, from fully accessing the airline’s flight data. A consumer wishing to see how Delta’s prices and schedules stack up against other carriers on the OTA TripAdvisor, or a meta-search site like Hipmunk, would be out of luck.[1] Southwest Airlines withholds its information from travel sites entirely. This lack of transparency is forcing consumers to gather fare, schedule, and availability information directly from the websites of airlines partaking in this behavior, thus hindering the ability to easily compare information when booking travel, reducing the need for airlines to offer competitive products, and eliminating an important catalyst for pricing competition.

We believe such practices are damaging to consumers and potentially violate our existing consumer protection laws that promote competition in the air transportation industry. In March, Senators Blumenthal and Markey wrote to DOT requesting the Secretary use its existing statutory authority to promote transparent price competition that will allow consumers to quickly and easily make good purchasing decisions, but the Department has yet to take that action.

Given the unprecedented level of consolidation within the airline industry, it is more important than ever that Americans maintain the ability to comparison shop. As you know, E.O. 13725 directs departments and agencies to report to the President and to you, as Director of the National Economic Council, on specific actions they can take to support competition. We respectfully request information regarding what actions DOT has stated it will undertake, pursuant to its “Agency Responsibilities” in E.O. 13725, to ensure consumers can easily access accurate flight fare and schedule information.

Thank you in advance for your attention to this issue. We appreciate your focus on increasing competition in all sectors, and look forward to working with you.

Sincerely,

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