When you pay £10 for a flight
And that's the point; the average paid for an FR seat per sector (flight) is around 70 Euros (2007/8), plus the cost of
genuine Government taxes, ie APD and the like. (This is from memory and unchecked).
On a typical flight, very few people in the aircraft will have paid a very low total price, say <£20.
About the same number, perhaps a little fewer, will have paid upwards of £175 - £200 each.
Part of the con is that most of the so-called "taxes" are simply elements of the cost to FR of carrying you from A to B that they charge separately and call a "tax".
Nearly all airlines (honourable exceptions include Air SouthWest) have picked up on this con trick so that they can claim "low" headline "fares" that appear competitive.
And some people stilll seem to get taken in, eg........
When you pay £10 for a flight
When did anyone last pay that,
in total, for a flight on any airline?