TheStreet’s Conway Gittens brings you the biggest news of the day, including what investors are watching and the Senate calls out the airline industry.
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00:00I'm Conway Gittins reporting from the New York Stock Exchange. Here's what we're watching on the street today.
00:05Airline executives are headed to Capitol Hill to defend extra seat fees, algorithm pricing, and other complaints made in a Senate report.
00:14Leaders from American, Delta, United, Frontier and Spirit have been called to testify before the Senate Permanent Subcommittee on Investigations in December.
00:24The report criticizes these airlines for what it deemed as unnecessary ticketing fees that raked in an extra $12.4 billion between 2018 and 2023.
00:37The extra fees are for things like preferred seating, seats with more legroom, and certain window or aisle seats.
00:44In a statement, Richard Blumenthal, head of the Senate Subcommittee, said, quote,
00:48Our investigation has exposed new details about airlines exploiting passengers with sky-high junk fees.
00:56Adding, quote,
00:57We regret that travelers will be charged millions of dollars in fees that have no basis in cost to the airlines but simply fatten their bottom lines.
01:08The report highlights United Airlines for taking in $1.3 billion in seating fees in 2023, making it the first time since 2018 that revenue from that fee topped checked baggage fees.
01:21A lobbying group for the industry said the report proves that some lawmakers have a, quote,
01:26clear failure in understanding the airline business.
01:30The airline industry has become quite proficient in coming up with new ways to raise revenue beyond the actual ticket price.
01:37From 2018 to 2023, American, Delta, United, Frontier, and Spirit took in an additional $25 billion in baggage fees alone.
01:49That'll do it for your daily briefing.
01:51From the New York Stock Exchange, I'm Conway Gittins with The Street.
02:00.