Runway 31
15th Nov 2004, 06:38
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.