Travel Booking Website Expedia Adds New Tool Disclosing Airlines' "Hidden Costs" for more Transparency Views of their Site

Online Travel booking website, Expedia adds new feature, an option tool disclosing hidden airline costs. The travel search site made an announcement on Tuesday for their newly added feature that will display other fees in advance aside from airfare.

According to the Skift, Expedia is trying to increase more the transparency on their sites that includes the Hotwire, Orbitz and Travelocity in order to rise above their competitors. These extra charging fees had been a pain for travelers after the American airlines started to charged bags.

The added feature namely "Upgrade Options" will simply display the airlines' other added fees for baggage checking, for the reservation cancellation charges, travel seats class and other "hidden charging fees",Fortune reported. The Expedia's senior vice president of global tour and transport, Greg Schulze also said, the displaying of the entire menu of prices is aiming to help travelers book flights with customized services.

Schulze added, "There is a huge amount of data we are collecting, along with information we have to help travelers to make informed decisions. We are starting to be more confident in ourselves in helping travelers compare options." Aside from their new "Upgrade Options" that shows other airlines' ancillary fees, the travel booking site will also add another tool for checking baggage fees that will be available this year, according to the Consumerist. It is "Baggage Calculator" that will show the charging fees and also display the airlines policies.

The Expedia is also hoping that the airline companies will cooperate with them. "We accept we have two customers: travelers and supply partners," said Schulze. "Airlines have seen it is much better to work with us, and not just be out there to sell bunch of tickets. We want to help with operational issues and provide good info to travelers, and that only helps airlines."