Last month, President of the United States Joe Biden announced the release of a new proposed law that would require airlines to disclose hidden fees before a customer purchases the ticket.
The regulation targets fees charged to sit with your child, for changing or cancelling your flight and for checked or carry-on baggage, so passengers know all the exact costs in advance and thus can choose the best deal.
Commenting again on “junk” fees during his speech on “new actions to provide families with more breathing room”, Biden made a statement that left many people puzzled. He stated that extra leg room charges are “unfair especially to people of colour”.
Look, folks, these are junk fees. They’re unfair, and they hit marginalized Americans the hardest, especially low-income folks and people of colour.
President Joe Biden
“The Department of Transportation is working on rules that would require airlines and travel sites to disclose fees up front, fees like things if you want to sit next to your young child. Well, guess what? Or check your baggage or change your ticket. You’re going to be surprised. They’re going to charge you for that without telling you. Your ticket is going to cost a heck of a lot more. I’m not saying they can’t charge it, but they got to let you know they’re going to charge it. You can make a decision”, Biden described the new regulations that the Department of Transport is working on.
“Some airlines, if you want six more inches between you and the seat in front, you pay more money. But you don’t know it until you purchase your ticket. Look, folks, these are junk fees. They’re unfair, and they hit marginalized Americans the hardest, especially low-income folks and people of colour. They benefit big corporations, not consumers, not working families. And that changes now”, he continued.
After his speech, a lot of people took to social media to make fun of Biden’s allegations that extra legroom charges are racist. Former WWE wrestler and current Mayor of Knox County, Tennessee, Glenn Jacobs noted that it was about time this issue gets the attention it deserves since “airline seating is extraordinarily unfair to oversized people”.
Others simply pointed out that there was no need to bring race into the discussion. Newsweek opinion editor Josh Hammer commenting that “These people have literally one talking point. One.”, while former RNC communications strategist Doug Heye turned Biden’s speech into a bingo game.
