Let it be known that on July 28, 2010, the National Business Travel Association announced it had formed a task force to assess airlines' ancillary fees.
The task force's first job will be to focus on how airlines can improve the ancillary fee data they submit to credit card companies as a way to enhance corporate reporting, regardless of channel.
Much has been made in Congress, at the U.S. Dept. of Transportation and online about how to engender more transparency about ancillary fees and services.
The NBTA task force will include executives from Air Plus International, Amadeus, American Express, ARC (Airlines Reporting Corp.), ATPCO (Airline Tariff Publishing Co.) BCD Travel, Concur, Continental Airlines, Delta Air Lines, EADS, MasterCard Worldwide, Sabre, Thomson Reuters,3SIXTY Global, TRX, US Airways and Visa.
The NBTA says the task force will not wade into the question of why the airlines are pursuing an ancillary fees strategy.
Instead, NBTA President and CEO Craig Banikowski says the task forces hopes "to provide a centralized repository of information and to evaluate methods that can increase transparency and improve reporting. Travel buyers must understand their total travel spend to successfully manage corporate travel budgets and policies."