EU considers scrapping airline surcharges

[fireflybob]

EU considers scrapping airline surcharges (http://www.telegraph.co.uk/finance/personalfinance/consumertips/8510286/EU-considers-scrapping-airline-surcharges.html)

[racedo]

Yeah everything EU gets involved with works so well doesn't it......

One day EU will even get their Budget signed off by their auditors............after 20 years of not getting them done.

[Capetonian]

The EU has 'considered' all sorts of things but precious little has led to any real benefits for real people.

Can anyone think of anything positive that has come out of the EU for the average Joe, Klaus, Sandrine, Alessandro, Małgorzata, Tomasz, Dimitri, Svend, Jorma, Bogdan, Georgeta, Maria ........ etc?

Yes we all get to buy cucumbers with the same degree of curvature and we don't have to show our passports when we cross what used to be international borders, nor do the criminals ..... great!

If they get to abolish unfair airline charges I'll http://www.wizards.com/sideboard/images/PTSD02/512.jpg

[Noxegon]

Sounds like a good idea to me.

[mn06]

I don't think the actual issue would be solved by this...

Many leisure routes are price sensitive. Price will impact a consumers destination, departure airport and date of travel.

Consumers still expect the same prices as 5-10 years ago despite the cost of fuel having risen. Hiding fees/charges in the backgroud means that the consumers desired first perceptions are met. If a consumer is 'just browsing' and they see fares higher than what they expect they won't return when they actually want to make a booking.

Sadly to resolve this there has to be greater consumer awareness about the actual cost of travel as well as all airlines making the change together...

[chickairways]

Fuel surcharges and passengers/airport taxes are the worst scams !
And it is not only valid for loco airlines.

[maggot738]

Everyone bleats on and on about hidden charges with the LCC but the reality is that fuel surcharges are mainly the domain of the longhaul carrier, BA, Qantas, Emirates etc. Try booking a flight with Qantas these days and if you want a pre assigned seat it will cost you $20AUD per sector and if you want the luxury of extra legroom in the exit row, well thats a whopping $180AUD per sector. That means on a return OZ to London flight if you want the exit row then you need to add $720AUD to your booking. Make a booking through any internet travel agent in the UK and the average credit card fee is £27. So stop bashing up the LCC for this when it is a lot more widespread throughout the travel industry, even with mainline carriers.

Maggot

[Noxegon]

I'm not bashing the LCC sector for this, I'm bashing all airlines equally.

I don't see why it is so hard. The price you see should be the price you pay, end of story.

[daz211]

Well I have just got back from ACE with Ryanair the price I was given was £35 return
and guess what ! the price I ended up paying was £35 :eek::eek::eek:.

That was for a return flight in May, from London Stansted to Lanzarote.
there was no hidden charges what so ever...

[kdhurst380]

What's hidden about them? hidden is adding something onto your bill you don't know about, a voluntary fee is something that is added/removed by you.

So many times I hear people moaning about FR, how they paid £160 for their family of four to have their boarding passes reprinted at the airport, well if you will totally disregard the advice that the airline urges you to read (FR make it VERY clear), then it's your own stupid fault. Same with baggage, if you get to the gate and your bag is bigger than the dimensions, shut up and pay the fee; you had the rules in front of you.

I've never paid any airline fees, except a dose of priority boarding every so often, because I do what the tin tells me, stick to the rules and a happy traveller you shall be.

The upside, is the ignorant, incompetents subsidise my cheap fares.

[Cyrano]

I find the responses to the original posting interesting though mostly facile.

I'd like to see all non-optional charges by all carriers outlawed: fuel surcharge, volcano surcharge, "airline failure" surcharge, surcharge for paying with anything but an eccentric form of payment, airport charges over which i have no control, etc.

I'd like to know that if an airline, any airline, advertises a fare of €35, I really will end up paying €35 every time, not €35 + online checkin surcharge one week, €35 + taxes and charges another week, and a real €35 the third week.

I don't mind paying extra for checked baggage, extra if I want to choose my seat, or extra if I'm paying with a credit card rather than a "common" debit card. That applies to fuel surcharges too - I'm 100% with Noxegon on this one. Frankly, if the EU would like to legislate for this I'd be all in favour. I recognise that this kind of debate always brings out the fanboys for one or other carrier to declare "well, *I* never pay more than tuppence ha'penny" or "you can avoid all the charges by just choosing a different flight, so they're optional":* I'm no great fan of the EU :ugh: but since pretty much all national consumer protection and advertising standards bodies have shown themselves to be utterly spineless when up against airline commercial practices (and I work in this industry too...), I'd like to see some organisation imposing some common sense.

C.

[chickairways]

the price I was given was £35 return
and guess what ! the price I ended up paying was £35 .

You should say "thank you" to local taxpayers !

Everyone bleats on and on about hidden charges with the LCC but the reality is that fuel surcharges are mainly the domain of the longhaul carrier, BA, Qantas, Emirates etc.

True, but not only...
Have a close look at passengers & airport taxes claimed when you make a booking. Then find the real rates charged at these airports...
Most of the time, it is cheaper than what the company charges you, under the same name.
Crasy isn't it ?

[racedo]

I'd like to know that if an airline, any airline, advertises a fare of €35, I really will end up paying €35 every time, not €35 + online checkin surcharge one week, €35 + taxes and charges another week, and a real €35 the third week.


So if an airline highlights a price then what you are saying is ALL their flights must be for that...............

[Cyrano]

So if an airline highlights a price then what you are saying is ALL their flights must be for that...............

No, racedo, that's not what I'm saying at all. Let me phrase it more precisely. If an airline advertises fares "from €x" I expect it to be realistically possible (if I book early enough, don't take checked baggage, pay with a widely used low-cost payment method, etc. etc.) to obtain a fare of €x, not €x plus various unpredictable add-ons. I have no issue if the €x fare is sold out and I have to buy a higher fare. My issue is with the €x fare not actually being available for that price in the first place.