[Anonymous]

[Deleted User]

I have just had to book a series of shorthaul tickets and am more than happy to use the cheaper style airlines with no added frills. I was particulaly impressed with the seemingly cheap prices until it was time to actually close the booking and pay. Among the extras that I had to pay for apart from the fare:

* Taxes and surcharges

* 911 surcharge

* security charges

* Seat assignements on both outbound and inbound

* a transaction fee

* administration fee

* a credit card supplement (how else can I pay)

* bags

* travel insurance

* car hire

* hotels

* insurance charge

Forget Ryan Air’ offer of £1 tickets, Aer Lingus actually “sells” tickets on their web site for £0 (Free). I was lucky enough to purchase 2 “FREE” tickets and the billl still came to over £100.

Isnt it about time, pricing for airtickets became a little simpler and the airlines stopped hiding behind those extras that should form part of the ticket price. If an airline needs to charge any sort of fee to cover their costs, that should form part of the ticket price. I cant think of any other product that can be sold / advertised for “Free” and end up with a receipt for over £100.

At what stage will the surcharges cease. I understand that the airlines may have miscalulated when buying fuel forward using USD$, but these fuel surcharges started over 4 years ago. If the costs have gone up, why arnt the tickets priced accordingly, why charge a surcharge and then advertise the ticket at £0??

Soon the airlines could be passing a hat round to tip the pilots!!

[PaulJennings]

There is free as in a free beer and there is free as in a free puppy.

BA and Easyjet are two honourable exceptions in terms of price displays, although both assume you will pay by a certain type of card.

Following this week’s agreement, Easyjet may be tempted to introduce a supplementary ‘Stelios fee’.

[LuganoPirate]

I have just flown Kulula airlines in S. Africa from George to JNB. They are also a “cheap” airline a la easyjet etc and the price advertised was what I paid. It included all the surcharges and one case checked in up to 20kgs. I could have bought more weight online if I wanted it.

The plane was packed so clearly the concept works, just a shame airlines like Ryanair etc cannot follow suit with an all inclusive price.

I don’t believe any of us can really think an airline could survive if it offered all it’s seats at just 1p? But the headline fare attracts attention and people then seem “happy” to pay all the extras!

An example of when cheap is expensive is if flying with a mainline carrier, where you have status giving extra weight, fly business for another 10 kgs and perhaps at check-in they overlook the other few kilos you’re overweight.

At Malpensa recently I was with my son who was checking in for his flight with Easyjet to Amsterdam. In front of us were an American couple who had flown in from the US with about 100 kgs of baggage. They had to pay about € 1,000 extra. They were asking others in the queue to take bags for them, but everyone said “no” and the wife was saying “serves the cheapskate right, he wanted to save a lousy 100 bucks”!!!

Seems the flight from the US cost only $400 which he had upgraded to business with miles. As he was a gold plated platinum ambassador or whatever he could take all the extra bags with him from the States at no extra cost.

So Cheapo can really be not so Cheapo at all!

[craigwatson]

Ok ill probably take a beating here, because most are against the LCC concept, but it does have its place.

about CM’s message….

and all the “extra charges”, the majority are optional charges that all airlines offer (even BA), for example..

insurance, hotels, car hire, bags (lets not forget with mainline carriers you are still paying for bags it’s just included in the ticket cost, but for short haul business routes lots of travellers dont need or infact take checked baggage, so it is a indeed an optional charge), seat assignment( do you really need to prebook seats on a LCC? they are all the same after all).

As for taxes and fuel surcharges all airlines, even legacy carriers charge those on top of advertised fares ( and to be fair to Ryanair a great majority of its cheap fares are tax free)

I fly business all the time, but just came across a ryanair fare from my local airport (leeds) direct to venice for 2 adults and 1 infant for £56 all in. I paid for that trip and there were no extras other than a £5 booking fee, so still £61 return for 2 1/2 people, much cheaper than any mainline carrier, but the clincher was i will have already arrived whereas had i taken a mainline carrier i would still be in the particular transit airport waiting for my connection.

[craigwatson]

i think the best thing about LCC is that they fly where the mainline dont. ie. the regional airports, so for shorthaul european detinations i think they are great

[Deleted User]

CraigWatson makes a very valid point in that some not most of the extras are optional. The main point of my post was that my eye was caught, in the case of Aer Lingus by a fare of £0! Surely this is advertising gone barmy.

Why should passengers have to pay admin charges? If I fill my car up, I dont have to pay a surcharge for the elecricity the pump uses or for the paper used to print my reciept.

No one has addressed the point about the fuel surcharges. A surcharge implies an extra cost to cover an unexpected base cost. OK, we all know fuel went up, but at what point is a surcharge not a surcharge.

So, I run my business, my hourly billable rate is say £250. I present this to the client and then add:

* travel surcharge to cover the extra cost of my airticket

* tax surcharge, to cover the extra taxes charged by the authorities

* inland revenue surcharge to cover the increase in tax

I suppose the question really is, how do the airlines get away with misleading their customers by false advertising, when any other sector would get hauled before the various trade bodies and be accused of all sorts if malpractise.

[craigwatson]

I completely agree with fuel surcharges. I have been annoyed for a very long time in regards to this, if they feel they need to charge then so be it, but in my opinion if it goes to the airline it is not a tax and should be included in the fare. Taxes are just that “taxes” and should only be fees which go to the government or airport authorities.

[Deleted User]

It used to cause havoc but was effective. I remember in Bangkok when all departing passengers had to pay the duty in cash on departure and were issued witha ticket, which without, you could nt go through to the departure lounge. That way the airline didnt need to charge for handling the money. As has been reported many times before, where does the tax and APD or whatever it is called go when a passenger is a no show.

The way these additional charges are levied, needs to be reviewed as I am sure if it was taken out of the hands of the airlines, not only woul dmore of it get to the departments intended, but it could probably be reduced as the airlines would not need to take their cut. Just a thought.

[craigwatson]

If the passenger no shows they can claim for a refund of the taxes minus the fuel surcharge which is non refundable. so given that when a passenger doesnt claim the refund ( most probably assuming they are not entitled due to missing the flight) then the airline gets to keep it all as they dont need to pass it on o the authorities since the passenger did not fly.

[Deleted User]

correct, but my undersatanding is that the airline can still charge an admin fee for making the refund.

Either way, it is still wrong that any company is able to keep levy’s tax moneys, surcharges when the pax does not fly.

The collection and charging of these charges does need to be reviewed becasue it is beginning to get out of hand.

[craigwatson]

I would be all for taxes being collected at airports, therefore if the pax doesnt show they dont have to pay and then there is no issue about refunding taxes. This way airlines would only be allowed to charge a fare and no extra taxes ( although they could and should still be allowed to charges for extras like seats, baggage…. etc. more flexible for passengers, as if you dont need/want this you dont need to pay for it.)

[NTarrant]

Surcharges are a mask for fare increases. There is no need for fuel surcharges, buying an air ticket is not quite the same as a package holiday where you would expect a “fuel surcharge”.

I don’t agree with taxes etc being collected at the airport, it wastes time and causes problems and queues. Most people are not interested in taxes etc they want the price all inclusive. Certainly BA has it right in showing a price including all the extras for the outward and return. My only gripe is the charge for credit cards. As most pay by credit card, include it in the price and if people pay by debit cards give a reduction.

LCC like Flybe are a joke in charging a booking fee, you have to book and if you book direct then why are you paying a booking fee. That is a scam

[TominScotland]

Just booked ticket with Ryanair (not Ryan Air!).

1. Prestwick – Dublin single €8 all in including taxes and surcharges

Booked one a while back Prestwick – Shannon return for 2p all in return.

Nobody makes you press the final payment button if you don’t like the final price……

[Deleted User]

…………but if you have no other option, other than to fly, you must press the button Tom!!

I am interested though in the tickets you mention. You say that you bought 2 sectors:

* Prestwick to Dublin – Euros 8

* Prestiwick to Shannon 0.2p

Both all in???

So there was no fuel surcharge, airport tax, thats all you paid??????

In other words, NO EXTRAS on top of the fare?????????

[Author]

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