<\/p>\n
May 10, 2019<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
Media contact: National Consumers League \u2013 Carol McKay, carolm@nclnet.org, (412) 945-3242\u00a0or Taun Sterling, tauns@nclnet.org, (202)\u00a0207-2832<\/p>\n
The Honorable Peter DeFazio
\nChairman
\nHouse Committee on Transportation and Infrastructure
\nU.S. House of Representatives
\n2165 Rayburn House Office Building
\nWashington, DC 20515<\/p>\n
The Honorable Maria Cantwell
\nRanking Member
\nSenate Committee on Commerce, Science and Transportation
\n511 Hart Office Building
\nWashington, D.C. 20500<\/p>\n
The Honorable Rick Larsen
\nChairman
\nHouse Committee on Transportation and Infrastructure
\nSubcommittee on Aviation
\nU.S. House of Representatives
\n1529 Longworth House Office Bldg.
\nWashington, DC 20515<\/p>\n
The Honorable Kyrsten Sinema
\nRanking Member
\nSenate Committee on Commerce, Science and Transportation, Subcommittee on Aviation and Space
\n825B Hart Senate Office Building
\nWashington, DC 20510<\/p>\n
Re: Raising the Passenger Facility Charge Will Hurt Travelers and Families<\/p>\n
Dear Senator Cantwell, Congressman DeFazio, Congressman Larsen, and Senator Sinema,<\/p>\n
On behalf of the National Consumers League, America\u2019s pioneering consumer and worker advocacy organization, I am writing today to share our concerns about the proposal to increase the Passenger Facility Charge (\u201cPFC\u201d) that is under consideration by your committees. There is undoubtedly a need to invest in updating America\u2019s airport infrastructure.\u00a0However, massive infrastructure projects are already underway and even more are planned, all financed with existing funding sources. Therefore, we disagree that new funds should be generated by raising fees yet again on consumers.<\/p>\n
As you know, the PFC is currently capped at $4.50. Some airport executives have proposed increasing the cap to $8.50 per segment and indexing the PFC to inflation.[1]<\/a> While this may seem like a marginal increase on its face, this fee hike could add up to $64 more for a family of four to travel when layovers are factored in.[2]<\/a> This would disproportionately burden budget-conscious consumers and families buying less expensive tickets, who already face an array of taxes and ancillary fees. Moreover, the increase will unfairly burden travelers who do not reside near hub airports and typically have to fly multiple segments to reach their destinations.<\/p>\n Since 2009, $165 billion in infrastructure projects have been funded at the current PFC cap level. In 2017, U.S. airports collected a record $30 billion of revenue\u2014growing 47% on a per passenger basis since 2000, outpacing inflation. As anyone traveling through our nation\u2019s airports can attest, there is no shortage of opportunities for airports to obtain revenue; rents paid by gift shops, restaurants, bars, hotels, rental car and parking facilities to name only a few. \u00a0Airports should utilize the funds they already have before asking Congress to burden American families and consumers with yet another tax.<\/p>\n Passengers are already paying enough to fly. I encourage you to consider those who will ultimately pay the price for the proposed PFC increase \u2013 families, especially rural families, who already pay their fair share in taxes and fees when traveling. Until a persuasive case can be made for additional fees to be passed on to the flying public, we urge you to reject an increase in the PFC cap.<\/p>\n Sincerely,<\/p>\n John Breyault [1]<\/a> Silk, Robert. \u201cPFC redux: Airport and airline lobbyists resume the fight,\u201d Travel Weekly<\/em>. March 26, 2019. Online: https:\/\/www.travelweekly.com\/Travel-News\/Airline-News\/PFC-redux<\/a><\/p>\n [2]<\/a> Airlines for American. \u201cA4A Urges Senators to Reject Massive Secret Tax Hike in Unreleased THUD Appropriations Bill,\u201d Press release. July 25, 2017. Online: https:\/\/www.airlines.org\/news\/a4a-urges-senators-to-reject-massive-secret-tax-hike-in-unreleased-thud-appropriations-bill\/w.marketwatch.com\/press-release\/a4a-urges-senators-to-reject-massive-secret-tax-hike-in-unreleased-thud-appropriations-bill-2017-07-25<\/a><\/p>\n ###<\/p>\n About the National Consumers League<\/strong><\/p>\n The National Consumers League, founded in 1899, is America’s pioneer consumer organization. Our mission is to protect and promote social and economic justice for consumers and workers in the United States and abroad. For more information, visit www.nclnet.org.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" May 10, 2019 Media contact: National Consumers League \u2013 Carol McKay, carolm@nclnet.org, (412) 945-3242\u00a0or Taun Sterling, tauns@nclnet.org, (202)\u00a0207-2832 The Honorable Peter DeFazio Chairman House Committee on Transportation and Infrastructure U.S. […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"inline_featured_image":false,"_price":"","_stock":"","_tribe_ticket_header":"","_tribe_default_ticket_provider":"","_tribe_ticket_capacity":"0","_ticket_start_date":"","_ticket_end_date":"","_tribe_ticket_show_description":"","_tribe_ticket_show_not_going":false,"_tribe_ticket_use_global_stock":"","_tribe_ticket_global_stock_level":"","_global_stock_mode":"","_global_stock_cap":"","_tribe_rsvp_for_event":"","_tribe_ticket_going_count":"","_tribe_ticket_not_going_count":"","_tribe_tickets_list":"[]","_tribe_ticket_has_attendee_info_fields":false},"categories":[25],"tags":[412],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/nclnet.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/973"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/nclnet.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/nclnet.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nclnet.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nclnet.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=973"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/nclnet.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/973\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":17195,"href":"https:\/\/nclnet.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/973\/revisions\/17195"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/nclnet.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=973"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nclnet.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=973"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nclnet.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=973"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
\nVice President, Public Policy, Telecommunications, and Fraud
\nNational Consumers League
\nPhone: (202) 207-2819
\nEmail: johnb@nclnet.org<\/p>\n