Airlines Get Flexibility to Hide Fees Once More
Published Date: 7/2/2026
Rule
Summary
The Department of Transportation is rolling back its 2024 rule about how airlines must share extra fees, like baggage or seat upgrades, with travelers. This change affects airlines and passengers by returning to the older 2011 rules for fee disclosure starting July 2, 2026. It means airlines have more flexibility in how they show these fees, and travelers might see less detailed info for now.
Analyzed Economic Effects
3 provisions identified: 1 benefits, 2 costs, 0 mixed.
Restores specific 2011 disclosure duties
Under the restored 2011 Rule, carriers must: (1) post on their homepage for at least three months any increase in baggage fees or changes in baggage allowances; (2) clearly disclose on the first screen showing a fare quotation that additional baggage fees may apply and where to view them; (3) include on e-ticket confirmations the passenger's free baggage allowance and the fee for a carry-on bag and the first and second checked bag (carriers must provide this in text; agents may use text or a hyperlink); and (4) disclose all ancillary service fees in one central place on the airline's website, with non-baggage fees permitted to be shown as ranges.
Removes 2024 integrated and passenger-specific disclosures
The final rule removes all 2024 Rule requirements, including the mandate to display ‘critical ancillary service fees’ (first and second checked bag, carry-on, ticket changes/cancellations) at the first point of an itinerary search, the passenger-specific vs. anonymous search distinction, requirements to share fee data with ticket agents and metasearch entities, offline/phone verbal fee disclosure mandates, and the 2024 e-ticket "text-only" baggage disclosure and personal-item mention.
Reverts to 2011 fee disclosure rules
The Department of Transportation is restoring the 2011 disclosure rules and removing the 2024 rule, effective July 2, 2026. This returns the legal requirements for how airlines and ticket agents must disclose ancillary fees to the standards that existed before the 2024 rule.
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