Ticket fraud or?

[Beaver diver]

I have booked a ticket to fly to Genoa from STN and back and I have experienced some quite contrary pricing which makes no sense whatsoever.
My flight to Genoa was 24.99 but my taxes were 25.99? How come in the world can you charge more in taxes than the actual price? Is there any smallprint that Government actually allows?
My flight back was 69.99 but my taxes were 11.45 ? Figure this one out.
All in all, I don't want to complain about cheap tickets, but I would like to know when do I really get screwed (If?) and what is the story behind it?
Maybe it is time to sue some of those mofos...

Thanks,

BD

[perkin]

Wow, thats some rumour :rolleyes:

[Carnage Matey!]

Uk departure tax outbound, Italian departure tax inbound. Deal with it.

[paull]

A- You get a better quality of groping at security on the way out than you get on the way back.
B- Terrorists only bomb outbound (from UK) flights.
C- Its a rip off.
Take your pick!

[Torycanyon]

I asked a similar question a while back. Flybe verses BMI verses Easy Jet flights to/from similar/same destinations and the difference in prices was astounding!
Surely Tax is Tax and the amount should be the same?
If not, then I suspect it is some sort "Stealth tax".
Yet another way of recupping some of the seemingly Cheap fares back from the unsuspecting public.
After Gordan Brown introduced the recent Tax on Aviation, Easy's "Tax" increased 200% from a Fiver to £15 on the outbound leg for example. However, BMI and Flybe's increases were even greater!
I agree that UK airports are generally charging more than the European ones. Money Grabbin B$"£%ds :ugh:
Perhaps it may be time for the Taxman to have a closer look at this racket?

[cwatters]

Many departure taxes and charges are fixed price items NOT a percentage of the fare.

Most of low cost carriers would prefer to seperate out what they call "the cost of the flight" from what they call "taxes and other charges". They claim this is so you can see how cheap their fares are compared to the high rate of taxes and other stuff "outside their control". At least that's their claim.

I note that on the Ryan air web site they now advertise their special £10 flight offers as "including taxes, fees and charges" so that's a step in the right direction I guess.

I once paid 99p for the ticket and about £20 in taxes and other charges but then I knew their 99p advert didn't include tax and charges so no shock horror.

[hedgester]

Yep I went from stanstead to cork for 1p each way! with about 45 quid in taxes! I thought the price was great so I went! Straight market forces if you are prepared to pay the fares (plus the taxes :yuk: ) buy it! If your not then dont ..... easy! What is there to sue for!

[PAXboy]

The question of variable taxes has been discussed many times and there is another thread currently running in this forum that includes this topic (Refund from Ryanair) and one quote from one reply in that thread is.
Well taxes for 3 for this week on a return flight are 75.60 out and 36.00 back fast forward a fortnight and the return taxes are 19.68 due to the £10 fare.Beaver diver you do not mention the carrier that you are on but, in my experience, many of them are doing this. Last year I got a quote from two ticketing agencies for the exact same flight (I made very sure) and the cost of taxes was different for each offer.

In my view, this practice is the next one for Trading Standards and Consumers Association to tackle. For now? Buy the ticket or don't buy the ticket but don't waste your time asking the carrier for an explanation. A full breakdown of the taxes will not be forthcoming, I have tried! :ugh:

[slim_slag]

You can get a breakdown by putting a dummy booking in and clicking on 'details' on the page which details the costs. Ins and Wchr Levy (whichgo to the airline) is £3.47 and 33p. PSC is said to go to the airport. Then at the end you pay a charge for using a credit/debit card. 70p for a debit card.

Flying out of STN


http://i106.photobucket.com/albums/m258/slim_slag/proon/STN.jpg


Flying out of GOA

http://i106.photobucket.com/albums/m258/slim_slag/proon/GOA.jpg


It has got a bit interesting recently with their £10 all in fares. That breaks down as 1p for the flight and £9.99 for all the extras which doesn't compute, but then who really cares if you get that sort of deal.

I think what the airline are doing is showing how much the guvmint/airport take. Also showing the impact of 9/11 and the court decision on wheelchair costs, which they didn't like. Some would say this way of doing things gives additional information to the consumer as to where their money is going and this is a good thing. Some would say it's confusing which is a bad thing. I am in the former, doesn't bother me if I have to add things up, it's the total cost that counts and I can get that very simply.

[groundhand]

The breakdown of charges just shows how the airlines are milking the system.

£3.80 per passenger for WHCR & ins.
£592.8 per sector - even allowing for 75% load factor = £444.

There are lots of handling compnaies would like that revenue per sector!

And why is PSC not refundable; it's only chargeable by airports on passenger numbers that travel?

[slim_slag]

There are lots of handling compnaies would like that revenue per sector!They should start an airline then.

[Frangible]

The variable taxes isssue is very important. I remember years ago that a few locos, Ryanair in particular, I believe, pulling a fast one on the taxes.

Say you cancel your flight. Fair enough, you have lost the fare price. But what about the tax. That is meant for the government or airport operator.

The scam used to be that after a cancellation the airline kept the tax. After all, the tax collecting authority had no way of knowing if a passenger had been carried. However, if you asked the airline for the tax portion of the ticket price back, they would refuse it to you. So, they were managing to rip you off and the government at the same time!

Would be interested to know if the situation has changed. If not, it looks like a very promising avenue for consumer journalism.

[Beaver diver]

I think they are full of s..t all together and we are paying it all unfortunatelly.

[PAXboy]

Frangible - yes the problem was fixed. The carriers were forced to repay the tax, if the pax did not depart. :)

So ... the carriers asked that they be allowed to charge an administration fee for handling the payment. This was agreed. :eek:

So ... you will find that on taxes of, say, £24, the admin charge might be £23.50 and take two letters and six weeks to get. :sad:

So ... problem solved! :ugh:

[Frangible]

Thanks for the info PB. Very illuminating, if depressing.

There still might be mileage in all this for those who want to press the issue. Banks recently came under strong attack for arbitrary "administrative" fees, so perhaps airlines might be vulnerable on this one.

[Avman]

Of course, if you were not to fly with them they might get the message!

[PAXboy]

My cynical view is that:
The number of people affected per year is low - as a percentage of those that DO travel. However, it is still a nice little earner for the carriers. BUT, because most people only get affected once or twice, they are not motivated to do anything about it.

Depending on what has caused them to cancel, the loss of the APD may be insignificant and if they have insurance?

I expect that this will get picked up if/when the govt sorts out the 'variable' taxes and charges problem that started this thread.

[slim_slag]

The 'variable' taxes described in the first post are due to the airport/country of departure being different. How would you have the guvmint sort that out?