Flight surcharges

[peterB]

Hi everyone, when checking out flights we noticed that surcharges for flights in april 2009 with British Airways have gone from 900 to 1600 Euro (for the 4 of us)compared to the same flights in 2008. In your experience is this reasonable and is this same with the other airlines as well ? Thanks again. Peter
Ps to explain, surcharges is Taxes, fees, charges and surcharges

[CERICROWLEY]

Peter

I think you find the tour operators and airlines are a law unto themselves when it comes to surcharges, they always put something in the small print to safeguard themselves against rising costs

It was just on the news recently that if the oil price goes up by $1 then the cost to the airline is so many thousands a year more on expenses, yeah right they just add it on to the airticket straight away, although they may well have agreed a price for fuel in advance for a set time etc. Also when the cost of oil goes down do they give you back the surcharge, no, their answer is they have paid for the fuel in advance at the high costs. so it's a no win situation really for the customer.

They know we will not stop travelling, so nearly all airlines will charge extra when they can. Its just one of those things, We drive our cars etc, and fuel is always on the increase.

[Katys Grandad]

Hi Peter

Taxes should be the same at worst because there hasn't been an increase I'm aware of since you last travelled but as you're travelling from the Netherlands there might be something UK flyers don't have. My own view is that the taxes should be LOWER for you because you shouldn't have to pay the rip-off APD introduced and raised by our wonderful government. As Ceri says, surcharges are something you can only avoid by not going!! The big factor of course is the fuel surcharge reflecting the record level of the price of oil. Nothing anyboby can do about that I'm afraid.

The main factor in 'fees' is what the airline has to pay to the airports they operate into/out of. Again, this seems to be passed on to the passenger every time.

All that said, I still think that flying is relatively cheap when you look at the wider picture of the rise in the cost of living generally.

[mfairhurst]

We fro MANCHESTER and always pay more than most airports as the flight companys pay more to go out and in it used to be £44 per person do not know if it as gone up .
When we buy flights direct from DELTA they say it is the charges from MANCHESTER airport .We had free flights with air miles and the taxes were charged to DELTA via MANCHESTER ,My NIECE was working there and she said all the carriers were conplaining about it [msnmad]
MAUREEN
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[peterB]

Tx all, I don't know what happened to these charges they went up from 241 to 398 Euro per person for exactly the same flight april 2008 vs april 2009. Perhaps there has been a local tax increase. I guess it is sort of funny that the flight now costs 900 Euro's for the 4 of us and the surcharges and taxes 1600... I must say that the experience we had this year with BA was very very good and it would take a lot to switch to a different route/airline next year.

[ShirleyD]

BA has just raised it's fuel surcharge slightly and as you are doing 4 flights, maybe this is where the extra cost is. You still have to pay all the UK departure taxes leaving the UK twice on your journey. Taxes for Gatwick are generally less than for Heathrow. But with the continued fuel rises, I think we are going to see these rises for some time to come. BA alone has estimated additional fuel costs for this tax year to be one billion pounds

[Katys Grandad]

<blockquote id="quote" class="ffs">quote:Originally posted by ShirleyD
You still have to pay all the UK departure taxes leaving the UK twice on your journey.
[/quote]

I have to disagree there Shirley. The OP is connecting from an international flight to another international flight (presumably within 24 hours) so no APD is payable provided his ticket is for the entire journey.

Similarly, if a passenger connects from an international flight to a UK domestic flight on the same ticket, there is no APD liability. If there was, every passenger connecting from, say, Heathrow, to a regional airport would have to pay tax. I have never had to pay in either circumstance.

[ravtino]

With the profits BA made you'd think they could stand surcharges - pure greed another customer rip off - rant over

[Robert5988]

<blockquote id="quote" class="ffs">quote:You still have to pay all the UK departure taxes leaving the UK twice on your journey.[/quote]Katys Grandad is quite correct on this subject.

The USA frequent flyer forums are full of posts on how to avoid the £80 departure tax for leaving UK(£40 in Coach)

Anyone routing through UK from any other country does not pay the UK departure tax provided they spend less than 24 hours in UK.

For instance Americans on a holiday to Europe can save £80 a person by flying to Ireland or anywhere in Europe even though both their flights might route thro' UK.

[Robert5988]

<blockquote id="quote" class="ffs">quote:With the profits BA made you'd think they could stand surcharges - pure greed another customer rip off - rant over[/quote]BA are to pay a dividend to their shareholders for the first time in 7 years

What do you call it when they make huge losses?