AIR FARE REGULATION TARGETED CONGRESSMAN SAYS MANY USE 'BAIT AND SWITCH'.(Business)

Byline: Associated Press

Regulation of airline fares should be reassigned to the Federal Trade Commission as a step toward ending widespread abuses in the promotion and sale of discount tickets, a congressman said Friday.

Rep. Charles Schumer, D-N.Y., said the FTC had shown itself to be "a more consumer-oriented agency" than the Department of Transportation which now maintains jurisdiction.

"DOT is in the pocket of the airlines ... it has basically abandoned its responsibility to monitor false advertising," Schumer said. "The DOT's chief responsibility is to promote the airline industry and keep it flying. The result is that the consumer suffers." …