Airline website price con's
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Airline website price con's
As if we didn't know it, they are all at it. An article from today's Scotsman showing how easy it is to con us with the prices of airline tickets at first sight on the airline websites. Do you think that the advertising requirements should also apply to website prices?.
Exposed: extra fees lottery of online airline flights
ALASTAIR JAMIESON
AIR travellers are facing a pricing lottery of added fees when it comes to paying for their seats online, an investigation by The Scotsman has found.
Airlines are offering seats to passengers for virtually nothing - then adding a string of fees when it comes to booking. A consumer watchdog has condemned the practice as "misleading" and say clearer pricing information is required.
Many airlines have introduced fuel or insurance surcharges to compensate for higher industry costs in the wake of the 9/11 attacks and rising oil prices. But although these extra fees are put together with the mandatory government tax, they represent direct profit for the airline.
Airlines have been told to quote all-inclusive fares in their advertising. But the ruling does not extend to website bookings, where the extra costs are often not revealed until the last moment before payment is taken. About 20 million passengers a year fly from Scottish airports. Estimates suggest more than 75 per cent of those passengers now book directly through airline websites.
The Scotsman found that a flight from Inverness to London Gatwick attracts taxes and charges of £16.50 when booking with easyJet but £34.50 with British Airways on the same dates.
BA said the difference was explained by its own fuel and insurance surcharges of £13.
The BMI British Midland website offered a fare from Glasgow to Alicante via Heathrow for £67, but the cost rose to £126.50 when taxes and charges were included. Flyglobespan offered £104 with extras of only £29.80 - making its direct flight only £7 more expensive than BMI.
Graeme Millar, chairman of the Scottish Consumer Council, said: "Travellers can easily be conned by this and I would hope there is a proper investigation into what these charges actually are. Putting pure profit under the heading of unavoidable charges is very misleading.
"Most people assume these charges are all taxes and go to the government, but the reality is different. Our advice would be to shop around and ensure you are getting good value for money on the total price being paid."
The only mandatory tax is air passenger duty, introduced by Ken Clarke, a former chancellor, in 1993. Every passenger flying from a UK airport is taxed at £5 for domestic or European Economic Area destinations, and £20 further afield. Business class passengers pay double.
Designed to placate the environmental lobby, it has proved a useful earner for the Treasury: Customs and Excise collected £778 million in air passenger duty last year. A business traveller who flies from Scotland to London and back every week pays an extra £1,040 a year in tax compared to motorists.
At Edinburgh and Glasgow airports, owned by BAA, fees averaging £8.23 and £11.15 respectively are paid by every departing passenger via the airlines.
A BAA spokesman refused to comment, but a source said: "It’s nonsense for airlines to suggest security charges are higher. Our passenger service fees are lower than they ever have been and continue to drop, even though increased passenger numbers mean we have to hire more security staff."
A spokesman for the Civil Aviation Authority (CAA) said: "Consumer advice about taxes is available on our website, but everything else is really a matter for individual airlines."
WHAT YOU PAY ON TOP OF FARE
UK AIR PASSENGER DUTY: Government tax, which is collected from airlines by Customs and Excise. Every passenger flying from a UK airport is taxed at £5 for domestic or European Economic Area destinations and £20 for further afield. Business class passengers pay double.
UK PASSENGER SERVICE CHARGE: This is the fee collected from airlines by airports to cover the cost of passenger facilities. It varies between airports and airlines.
EXTRAS: Passengers will have to pay any government taxes and airport fees levied at their destination. Crucially, many airlines now levy a variety of surcharges in this category that used to be absorbed into the fare - such as commercial insurance, security and fuel prices.
EXAMPLE: Edinburgh to London Heathrow in economy on BMI British Midland. The return fare is £14. The taxes, fees and charges total £34.40. That sum is made up of £10 Air Passenger Duty at £5 each way, £14.40 in Passenger Service Charges - the sum of the charges at Edinburgh and London Heathrow - and the remaining £10 is described by BMI as "fuel and insurance surcharges" and goes straight to the airline.
Exposed: extra fees lottery of online airline flights
ALASTAIR JAMIESON
AIR travellers are facing a pricing lottery of added fees when it comes to paying for their seats online, an investigation by The Scotsman has found.
Airlines are offering seats to passengers for virtually nothing - then adding a string of fees when it comes to booking. A consumer watchdog has condemned the practice as "misleading" and say clearer pricing information is required.
Many airlines have introduced fuel or insurance surcharges to compensate for higher industry costs in the wake of the 9/11 attacks and rising oil prices. But although these extra fees are put together with the mandatory government tax, they represent direct profit for the airline.
Airlines have been told to quote all-inclusive fares in their advertising. But the ruling does not extend to website bookings, where the extra costs are often not revealed until the last moment before payment is taken. About 20 million passengers a year fly from Scottish airports. Estimates suggest more than 75 per cent of those passengers now book directly through airline websites.
The Scotsman found that a flight from Inverness to London Gatwick attracts taxes and charges of £16.50 when booking with easyJet but £34.50 with British Airways on the same dates.
BA said the difference was explained by its own fuel and insurance surcharges of £13.
The BMI British Midland website offered a fare from Glasgow to Alicante via Heathrow for £67, but the cost rose to £126.50 when taxes and charges were included. Flyglobespan offered £104 with extras of only £29.80 - making its direct flight only £7 more expensive than BMI.
Graeme Millar, chairman of the Scottish Consumer Council, said: "Travellers can easily be conned by this and I would hope there is a proper investigation into what these charges actually are. Putting pure profit under the heading of unavoidable charges is very misleading.
"Most people assume these charges are all taxes and go to the government, but the reality is different. Our advice would be to shop around and ensure you are getting good value for money on the total price being paid."
The only mandatory tax is air passenger duty, introduced by Ken Clarke, a former chancellor, in 1993. Every passenger flying from a UK airport is taxed at £5 for domestic or European Economic Area destinations, and £20 further afield. Business class passengers pay double.
Designed to placate the environmental lobby, it has proved a useful earner for the Treasury: Customs and Excise collected £778 million in air passenger duty last year. A business traveller who flies from Scotland to London and back every week pays an extra £1,040 a year in tax compared to motorists.
At Edinburgh and Glasgow airports, owned by BAA, fees averaging £8.23 and £11.15 respectively are paid by every departing passenger via the airlines.
A BAA spokesman refused to comment, but a source said: "It’s nonsense for airlines to suggest security charges are higher. Our passenger service fees are lower than they ever have been and continue to drop, even though increased passenger numbers mean we have to hire more security staff."
A spokesman for the Civil Aviation Authority (CAA) said: "Consumer advice about taxes is available on our website, but everything else is really a matter for individual airlines."
WHAT YOU PAY ON TOP OF FARE
UK AIR PASSENGER DUTY: Government tax, which is collected from airlines by Customs and Excise. Every passenger flying from a UK airport is taxed at £5 for domestic or European Economic Area destinations and £20 for further afield. Business class passengers pay double.
UK PASSENGER SERVICE CHARGE: This is the fee collected from airlines by airports to cover the cost of passenger facilities. It varies between airports and airlines.
EXTRAS: Passengers will have to pay any government taxes and airport fees levied at their destination. Crucially, many airlines now levy a variety of surcharges in this category that used to be absorbed into the fare - such as commercial insurance, security and fuel prices.
EXAMPLE: Edinburgh to London Heathrow in economy on BMI British Midland. The return fare is £14. The taxes, fees and charges total £34.40. That sum is made up of £10 Air Passenger Duty at £5 each way, £14.40 in Passenger Service Charges - the sum of the charges at Edinburgh and London Heathrow - and the remaining £10 is described by BMI as "fuel and insurance surcharges" and goes straight to the airline.
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I think BA are being "economical with the truth" - the differential in fees between BA and easyJet was as high in January 2003 (before fuel surcharges) when I was looking at fares between London Gatwick and Amsterdam - same airports, similar aircraft but nearly £15 difference in "fees and taxes".
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Airlines have been told to quote all-inclusive fares in their advertising
Would public pressure have persuaded the government cut intra-EEA shorthaul economy Air Passenger Duty from £10 to £5 if airlines had just been burying the duty in their basic fares?
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so the consumer can clearly see how much of their money is going to whom.
Also with regard to APD when a person does not travel they should not lose their APD, however, in many cases airlines with hold this as they say it would cost admin fees to refund it.
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Someone care to explain this to me:
When I was booking my flights EDI-LTN/STN-EDI for last weekend, I booked about 8 days in advance. I was tracking the fares for 3 days prior to booking, and as I came to my booking, the taxes (all inclusive) dropped more and more, until the point where I was paying total £10 in taxes, etc.
Any reason for this?
Jordan
When I was booking my flights EDI-LTN/STN-EDI for last weekend, I booked about 8 days in advance. I was tracking the fares for 3 days prior to booking, and as I came to my booking, the taxes (all inclusive) dropped more and more, until the point where I was paying total £10 in taxes, etc.
Any reason for this?
Jordan
Brunel to Concorde
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I keep an eye on the easyJet BRS-EDI-BRS fares because I use the service from time to time and can book well in advance so get the best fares (for me, if not for the airline!).
In recent months the cheapest fare has invariably been £6.99 each way giving a toal of £13.98. However, you have to add to this a total of £22 for taxes and charges giving an overall fare for BRS-EDI-BRS of £35.98.
Since the weekend I have tried various combinations of dates but the cheapest one way fare (in either direction) I can find is £12.99.
I 'test booked' a couple of these dates and came up with a total of £25.98 for the basic fare (£12.99 x 2). However, the taxes and charges are now only £10 so the result is a total fare for BRS-EDI-BRS of £35.98, exactly the same as it was before.
So it seems that easyJet is quoting a more realistic fare 'up front' with the tax/charges element reduced.
In recent months the cheapest fare has invariably been £6.99 each way giving a toal of £13.98. However, you have to add to this a total of £22 for taxes and charges giving an overall fare for BRS-EDI-BRS of £35.98.
Since the weekend I have tried various combinations of dates but the cheapest one way fare (in either direction) I can find is £12.99.
I 'test booked' a couple of these dates and came up with a total of £25.98 for the basic fare (£12.99 x 2). However, the taxes and charges are now only £10 so the result is a total fare for BRS-EDI-BRS of £35.98, exactly the same as it was before.
So it seems that easyJet is quoting a more realistic fare 'up front' with the tax/charges element reduced.
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I'm not sure this is correct, since it is not clear if the airline passes the money on or not. Are the airport fees based on the amount they pay the airport or the normal fee regardless of any negotiation (ie are Ryanair inflating the airport fee?).
I've experienced this in negotiating with airports:
Airport marketer: "OK, our published rate is £5 per passenger, but we'll give you 50% off, but in your website booking engine you can still show £5 as the airport charges, so you'll make a couple of quid extra yield."
(Can't remember if the number was £5, but you get the idea.)
This obviously works best as a yield-booster if the taxes-and-charges are kept unbundled until late in the booking process, i.e. let's sucker the punter in with an apparently low fare and then back-load it with all these "extra charges" only after he's chosen particular flights and is feeling a bit more committed.
I wonder whether any consumer watchdog or regulator would be interested in checking that the apparent "taxes and charges" really are at the levels imposed by third parties?
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I really don't see the problem. If you always look at the bottom line,any bumping up of taxes/charges will always be reflected here.
Just go with the cheapest(or your favourite,if not a lot of difference)
Just go with the cheapest(or your favourite,if not a lot of difference)
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Charges seem to vary from hour to hour.
I recently checked fares and charges for a BA LHR to Barcelona return flight at 1900 checked a few other fares but did not make the booking. I returned to the task at 2200 and booked the BA flights but amazingly the charges had increased by just over £11 for two pax.
I rang up the next day and was told that " the fuel surcharge can vary from hour to hour". Is this true.....sounds a bit far fetched to me!!!!!
I recently checked fares and charges for a BA LHR to Barcelona return flight at 1900 checked a few other fares but did not make the booking. I returned to the task at 2200 and booked the BA flights but amazingly the charges had increased by just over £11 for two pax.
I rang up the next day and was told that " the fuel surcharge can vary from hour to hour". Is this true.....sounds a bit far fetched to me!!!!!
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Runway 31 thank you for quoting the source of the original article 
Trust me, the author is most grateful 
Cyrano is right on the button. The published PSC doesn't have to be the actual PSC. In the course of my research, Flybe explained that the £28.99 T/F/C on a £0.00p EDI-BHD ticket was partly down to a a £13 PSC at BHD. Smaller airports generally charge higher fees but I struggle to believe those nice people at the Harbour charge £13 per departure to anybody.
You're all right to be suspicious of Easyjet's T/F/Cs. Yes, their website is clearest and most upfront about the total cost But T/F/Cs often come to just £10 - which usually represents the basic Air Passenger Duty. For example, EDI-BFS is charged at £10. Now either EZY is getting a zero fee deal at EDI and BFS (fact: it isn't) or it is taking a loss on its fees in order to keep the extras down - a sort of reverse tactic against the likes of Flybe and BA/BD/KL etc. If it works for EZY, good luck to them.
Incidentally, I tried a EDI-AMS-JFK itinerary. The economy fare is £215 but T/F/Cs come to £105
The full breakdown of the £105 (according to KLM) is as follows: £36 fuel surcharge, £2.80 Dutch noise isolation charge, £1.70 United States Animal and Plant Health Inspection fee, £2.80 United States customs fee, £20 UK Air Passenger Duty, £2.40 Dutch security charge, £1.40 United States passenger security fee, £1.70 JFK airport fee, £11.20 Edinburgh airport fee, £6.20 Amsterdam airport fee, £15 Dutch transportation tax, £3.80 United States immigration fee 
Trust me, the author is most grateful Cyrano is right on the button. The published PSC doesn't have to be the actual PSC. In the course of my research, Flybe explained that the £28.99 T/F/C on a £0.00p EDI-BHD ticket was partly down to a a £13 PSC at BHD. Smaller airports generally charge higher fees but I struggle to believe those nice people at the Harbour charge £13 per departure to anybody.
You're all right to be suspicious of Easyjet's T/F/Cs. Yes, their website is clearest and most upfront about the total cost
But T/F/Cs often come to just £10 - which usually represents the basic Air Passenger Duty. For example, EDI-BFS is charged at £10. Now either EZY is getting a zero fee deal at EDI and BFS (fact: it isn't) or it is taking a loss on its fees in order to keep the extras down - a sort of reverse tactic against the likes of Flybe and BA/BD/KL etc. If it works for EZY, good luck to them. Incidentally, I tried a EDI-AMS-JFK itinerary. The economy fare is £215 but T/F/Cs come to £105
The full breakdown of the £105 (according to KLM) is as follows: £36 fuel surcharge, £2.80 Dutch noise isolation charge, £1.70 United States Animal and Plant Health Inspection fee, £2.80 United States customs fee, £20 UK Air Passenger Duty, £2.40 Dutch security charge, £1.40 United States passenger security fee, £1.70 JFK airport fee, £11.20 Edinburgh airport fee, £6.20 Amsterdam airport fee, £15 Dutch transportation tax, £3.80 United States immigration fee
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ajamieson
You may struggle to believe it but the published passenger service charges for Belfast City Airport are shown here:
http://www.belfastcityairport.com/te...rent=52&pid=53
Everyone goes on about the Internet providing "transparent pricing" I think that's a misnomer, yes it's far easier to get access to air fares now with the web, but there are "smoke and mirrors" going on behind the scenes which are far from clear to a browser
You may struggle to believe it but the published passenger service charges for Belfast City Airport are shown here:
http://www.belfastcityairport.com/te...rent=52&pid=53
Everyone goes on about the Internet providing "transparent pricing" I think that's a misnomer, yes it's far easier to get access to air fares now with the web, but there are "smoke and mirrors" going on behind the scenes which are far from clear to a browser
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But do Flybe get charged the full amount? I doubt it, given the range of routes (and pax) they have brought to BHD. See note 3 of your link:
Totally agree with you about website 'transparency'.
3. Discounts may be made available to operators of scheduled services.
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Personally I would prefer to see the total ticket price, not a series of bits and pieces. Let's take road fuel costs as an example. Various government taxes, duty etc make fuel in the UK among the most expensive in the world. We all know the government is ripping us off and that the majority of the price goes to them. But we do not see a price breakdown at the pumps, it is simply 80p per litre (or whatever). To me APD, PSC and all the other extras are just the same as handling, navigation, crew, aircraft lease and other costs. Put them all together and that gives you the ticket price. That is what the passenger wants. Not a list of extras and a lame excuse.
