Sen. Josh Hawley (R‑MO) slammed the senior executives of U.S. airlines during a hearing Wednesday to remind them that flying with their companies is a “disaster.”
The Senate Permanent Subcommittee on Investigations held a hearing to hear from Spirit Airlines CEO Matthew Klein, Frontier Airlines Senior Vice President Robert Schroeter, Delta External Affairs Officer Peter Carter, United Airlines Chief Commercial Officer Andrew Nocella, and American Airlines Chief Strategy Officer Steve Johnson. At the center of the senators’ questioning was the matter of junk fees.
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“I’m slightly amazed by the general attitude of all of you here. Flying on your airlines is horrible. It’s a terrible experience. I mean, I say this as a father of three young children, but I can’t tell you, nobody enjoys flying on your airlines,” Hawley told the executives. “You charge people fees that they know nothing about. You harass them to death.”
Hawley shared an anecdote about a time his wife was flying with their then 5‑year-old son during the coronavirus pandemic. An American Airlines flight attendant threatened his wife with a travel ban if she didn’t keep her son’s mask on his face.
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“Airlines like Spirit and Frontier paid their gate agents $26 MILLION to harass customers whose bags were ‘too big,’” Hawley captioned a video of his questioning on X. “Keep in mind that they’re harassing customers who’ve already paid. It’s corporate greed in action.”
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Meanwhile, Schroeter admitted that Frontier gate agents earn $10 per bag that they label as too big. The bonus comes because it is “a hard job” according to Schroeter.
Out of all the airlines represented Wednesday, Spirit is the sole company that filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy just days before the Thanksgiving holiday and months after it failed to merge with JetBlue.