EU considers scrapping airline surcharges

[Chuchinchow]

To whom it may concern

If you are upset at the additional charges levied by LCCs, you should write (or e-mail, if you prefer) to your local legislator, i.e. Member of Parliament, Congress person and so forth.

If enough legislators receive letters of that nature, questions will be asked in the various parliaments and - who knows? - something might be done about this underhand practice.

US voters can find out their Congressman's name by visiting The U.S. House of Representatives - Determinig Your Representative

UK voters should go to Search (Find Your MP) - UK Parliament

Singaporeans will find their Member of Parliament here: Who is my Member of Parliament | PARLIAMENT OF SINGAPORE

Canadians could look here: Find your Member of Parliament using your Postal Code

Moaning on PPRuNe is one thing; doing something pro-actively is another.

[ExXB]

Originally Posted by L'aviateur

The pricing setup by the LCC is just plain ridiculous. It's like me advertising to sell a Cheese and Ham Sandwich for 0.99 and then when you arrive at the cashier to pay being told you have to pay a foot and mouth surcharge, cheese shortage surcharge, a cash fee and a charge for having a reciept, with the total price becoming 9.99....
If the fees such as online checkin, fuel charges, taxes are mandatory, then they should be in the price, only the absolute options should be seperate.

L'aviateur - EU Regulations require airlines to include ALL non-optional charges in their advertised prices, and on their web-sites (pricing engines included). They are also required to show you a break-down of how this total is achieved. Only optional charges, such as insurance or (incorrectly, as far as I'm concerned) credit/debit card fees can be excluded.

So, you should not be seeing (in the EU +CH NO IS LI) advertising that does not include fuel surcharges, checkin charges, taxes and other fees. If you do see these you should complain to the NEB (National Enforcement Body) where the airline is based. (See the EC's website: Transport: Air - legislation in force since 2005 - European commission )

But, in accordance with the EC's dyslexic regulation the final price you see should be broken down to show these various TFCs and your fare.

[Dan Winterland]

My family and I flew from MAN to FCO with a ''low cost carrier'' last summer. Flights advertised at 39GBP one way and 49GBP the other seemed quite reasonable. Until I started to click the boxes! On top of the fares were purchase tax, airport duty, fuel surcharges, booking fee, card fee, check in fee (a bit rich as I did the on-line check in and printed my own boarding pass), baggage fees, seat fees and a meal. Total cost for four - 930GBP!

Some of this was optional - but the total was excessive in comparison to the originally advertised fare.

[PAXboy]

In comparison to the advertised £88.00 per person, excessive indeed.

At £232.50 per person, about normal for holiday season, I think.