Power Breakfast: Government targets airline fees, jobless rate, governor’s race, lottery, BP, iPhone

The federal government may do something about airline fees.

Amid growing complaints from a flying public fed up with airline add-on fees, Congress and the Department of Transportation are considering new rules that could change how airlines charge for baggage, blankets, drinks and just about everything else these days, AJC staffer Bob Keefe reports.

“Hardly a weekend goes by in my travels that I am not asked by passengers, ‘Aren’t you going to do something about these fees?’ ” U.S. Rep. James Oberstar, chairman of the House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee, said at a hearing Wednesday. “Well, we’ve started.”

A report released Wednesday by the Government Accountability Office indicated that the growing number of airline add-on fees can be confusing and misleading to consumers and ought to come with better disclosures, Keefe writes.

Airlines generated nearly $8 billion in revenues from baggage fees and reservation change and cancellation fees alone in the past two years, according to the GAO report.

Also in the AJC:

• Ga. jobless rate falls to 10% as discouraged workers give up search
• Poll: Who’s leading governor’s race
• Georgia Lottery sends more money to HOPE, Pre-K
• More hearings held as teachers fight for jobs
• Move afoot to extend bar hours in Atlanta neighborhood
• Stalled Lindbergh condo project revived as apartments

In other media:

• BP works to fix valve leak in Gulf
• Apple, under fire, to discuss iPhone Friday
• Even without iPhone, Verizon is gaining on AT&T
• FDA panel: Diabetes drug should stay on market

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