Airline Ticket Taxes: Fares don't drop despite airlines' tax break

CNN reports that Congress has failed to approve the extension of a bill that authorizes the Federal Aviation Administration's funding, meaning that airlines do not have to pay the federal government what amounts to approximately $25 million in tax revenue.

Consumers hoping for a decrease in ticket fare, however, have been disappointed. To date, most domestic carriers have raised or kept fares the same, pocketing the millions of dollars that were previously paid to the government.

In a panel discussion on CNN with farecompare.com CEO Rick Seaney and Airline Weekly Managing Partner Seth Kaplan, Motley Rice aviation lawyer Mary Schiavo commented that consumers are being treated unfairly.

"It is unfair because these ticket taxes don't go into the general United States revenue. They go into a trust fund, which funds the construction of airports, runways, air traffic control systems…by the airlines pocketing the money instead of giving it back to the consumer—or they could fund some of this construction that they need at the airports…they're being unfair to literally our nation and the traveling public," Schiavo said.

Read more on the airline ticket taxes in an article featured by Bloomberg.

Read about Motley Rice's aviation lawyers and how they work to protect passenger rights and fight on behalf of victims' family members and injured crash survivors.