Head’s up: There’s a new bill that just landed in Congress — and if it passes, your Finance staff could be spending more time on T&E-related tasks than ever before.
The bill is called The Transparent Airfares Act of 2014 (HR 4156) would allow airlines to advertise their base rates while separately disclosing any government issued taxes and total travel costs.
The aim of this legislation is more transparency when it comes to airline ticket prices. However, the bill could make it more difficult for travelers to compare the actual prices of tickets.
Also, it could lead to a bump in accidental T&E violations — violations your A/P staffer will have to handle.
Reason: If travelers (i.e., your company’s road warriors) are confused about the price of a ticket, they could easily wind up violate your company’s T&E policy without even realizing it.
Airlines rally behind it
So far, the bulk of the major U.S. airlines have lined up in support of this bill. However, it still has to make it through the House of Representatives.
We’ll keep you posted on the progress of The Transparent Airfares Act of 2014.
