Waterford 'Development Levy'
 

Dropped the missus off at Waterford (or South East Regional Airport as it appears to prefer!) this morning for a flight to London Luton. Bought the ticket last week and all the charges seemed to be in order (around 30 euro taxes ex. Waterford). We got to the check-in desk, and after completing the formalities and being assigned a seat my wife was informed that there was a 5 euro fee for 'airport development'. Nothing flagged at time of booking, and nothing mentioned of it until that time. I thought it cheeky, at best, but wife didn't feel like letting me 'have a go' at 0730. Anyone else feel that this is a bit out of order?

Have not used Waterford but they appear to have got thus idea from the UK. I have seen this reported a couple of times, the only one I can recall is Norwich.

It sounds as if it's on the same lines as my local hospital that charges visitors £3 for parking and say that it is for 3 hours. Problem being that visiting hours are actually a maximum of 2 hours and you cannot by less than £3. :mad:

I would say that Waterford should ensure that their charges are flagged up by the airline as having to be paid on departure. A letter to the CEO certainly has to be in order, not necessarily about the charge but the fact that it is hidden.

They do the same in knock, but i believe it is 10 euro.

over here YYZ, YOW and YTZ all have $15-20 levies but it's included on the ticket - no payment at the airport. Another bizarre anti-customer charge which the airlines should have to include in their fare. How do they manage to be one of the few industries that manages to charge separate fees aside from actual taxes? :ugh::ugh::ugh:

Newquay is another that has an airport development fee.

Hi NWI also have it.

The thing is, the fees are completely seperate to those charged at the time of making a booking with an airline as the fee is not associated with airline fares or government taxes.....its collected by the individual airports. It is for this reason that airlines do not include it and technically it is the passengers responsibiliy to ensure that they are familiar with the airport they are utilising. I know it sounds stupid but thats the way it is.

I am surprised that Waterford did not have collecting points/machines because as far as I am aware NQY and NWI have these.

So now Airports are jumping on the Airline bandwagon and ripping off Joe Public with totally garbage surcharges.

Do the airline websites advise of this at time of booking ?

If they dont I wouldn't pay it !

I'm sure I would consider using an alternative departure point if I knew, and could !

£2.00 into a 'Green Machine' at Liverpool gets you a ticket for priority through security.

ha! I am sure I read somewhere critiscm on this......but can't remember for the life of me where :confused:

From Aer Arann's terms and conditions

"10.2 AIRPORT CHARGES
In the case of passengers departing from Waterford Airport, a EUR €5 airport development fee is payable on departure.
In the case of passengers departing from Kerry Airport, an airport development fee of EUR €6 payable at the time of booking and is included in the fare.
In the case of passengers departing from Newquay airport, an airport development fee of GBP £5 is payable on departure."


The development charge has being in place in waterford a good while now

Kerry have the right idea by the looks of things, personally I would rather pay it up front when booking rather than be hit with the extra cost at the gate or at check in

If this is the case though I would like to see it on the booking screen perhaps reading something like this 'the afforementioned charges includes the Kerry airport development fee of E5' etc

To EI-WAT - Yup, you're right in saying that it's there, and it's about 3/5 of the way down an a document that contains 7,705 words. Now, I don't know about you, or anyone else that books flights .... but if I've travelled with a carrier more than a dozen a times and have NEVER had a problem with them, I don't tend to re-check an almost 8,000 word document every time I re-book.

So yes, technically Waterford Airport are covered, but I hardly think it to be fair to 'bury' that fact in the terms and conditions of booking. In any case my problem isn't with Aer Arann, it's with the way the payment was requested yesterday - demand for the money after check-in. To be honest I find it totally disgusting - it's not the amount, but the cheeky way in which it was taken

What happens if you book over the telephone then and do not actually see the T&Cs ?

Do they advise verbally of these surcharges ?

You cant hide them in 7500 word text on the phone can you.

Have a look at Waterford Airport's website under "Travelling with Us" and then the passenger info page you will find an explaination:

http://www.waterfordairport.ie/ns/content/view/51/107/

I take it you did not see the large sign at the front door before you arrive at the check in desk ? If memory serves its about 3 foot square...

In one way taking the levy at the desk is a more fair system than adding it to the ticket. If you dont travel you dont pay. How much taxes do airlines keep for themselves from passengers who do not travel ? Smaller airports have to give discounts to airlines too, to get them to operate. Im sure Aer Arann pay very little to Waterford for handling and landing and the levy goes somway to balancing the books.

The main reason airports are taking it at the desks is that it goes straight into the bank account, as you cant trust airlines these days.

In 2003 Waterford had this charge as part of the ticket, From what I remember (could be wrong) Euroceltic troddled away leaving Waterford owed about 40,000 in unpaid levies ! - Money in the hairbrushes pocket :ugh:

5Q

Why is it that it seems to be a distinctly irish problem in that people want facilities but are not prepared to pay for them.
With Waterford pax figures seemingly no more than the 100k mark and only applicable to outbound pax this levy can only bring in around 250,000euro per annum.Surely given the investment that is planned at EIWF over the coming years it is not unreasonable.After all they havent had the PSO gravy train prop the airport up ,as the other regionals have enjoyed over the years.

aidan f: 'I thought it cheeky, at best, but wife didn't feel like letting me 'have a go' at 0730. '
What good is 'having a go' with the check-in staff.they are only doing their job after all .If you have a grievance it should be the managers that you address your complaints to.
I find it incredible that people are so aggreived by a 'cheeky '5 euro development charge. I mean its more beneficial in the long run than spending a fiver on a pint!!:E

Yeah...right !

It is not Waterford I was getting at - it is the pricipal.

The fee should be included in the ticket price at the time of purchase.

eggc,

The fare will not be included in the ticket price because

1) its not associated with individual airlines
2) its not a government tax
3) it is a seperate charge which the airport levies and is collected by the airport, not the airline.

I give up :ugh:

People defending & not speaking up against these type of stealth charges, in all industries, is the reason we live in rip-off Britain.

If the Airport needs money for development then charge airlines higher fees; who then charge customers more at the time of purchase.

Pretty simple really - and honest !

Now send me a £5 surcharge for reading this post :}

but that still doesn't explain why it is not factored into landing charges paid by the airline concerned and factored into the ticket price from there. If fly-by-night airlines are an issue then perhaps they should have to pay into a bond scheme to compensate the airport.

If I take an train or a bus I don't get charged for the use of the station, even in the UK with its various operators.