How much are you paying in airfare taxes?

[Sydney Contributor - Bronze Find all posts View Profile Close Sydney]

I am totally gobsmacked.

We are planning to go to Hawaii next July since a friend has very kindly booked two units at a resort they own, one for them and one for us, on the off-chance that we might be able to go. We are really looking forward to meeting up with them if at all feasible and affordable.

Well yesterday, I rang the travel agent to check out the rough costings for our airfares. There will be seven of us going, 3 adults and 4 kids tickets. I was told that the taxes nowadays is roughly $1100 and by next year it will most likely be $1200-$1300. This is all in Australian dollars. The tickets alone will be over $1000, the agent said possibly $2000 for July, + tax on top! With prices like that, how can a family afford to fly anymore? We were planning on making it to the mainland of the U.S. as well but with these prices, we might not even be able to make it to Hawaii!

How much are you all paying for your fare taxes? Has it gone up as much in the U.S. as it has in Australia?

[lawren2 Malibu Beach Barbie & A Super Moderator Find all posts View Profile Close lawren2]

Domestic is certainly not bad. Here are the totals for 3RT tickets I bought in October:

Air Fare 594.00
Federal Segment Tax 40.80
Airport Passenger Facility Charge 54.00
September 11th Security Fee 30.00
Ticket Total 718.80

I almost passed on our flights to England last summer as the tax was $200 PER ticket but I got flights thru Ireland and saved more than enough to make the inconvenience worth while. I am overjoyed that we made that trip it was one of our all time best vacations. Here are the taxes associated with those tickets (priced at one RT):

Fare: 493.00 USD
Tax: 42.20 XT
Tax: 5.50 YC
Tax: 7.00 XY
Total: 547.70 USD

I am not real happy with my current quotes to California this summer but that has little to do with the taxes.

I was playing with the idea of Fiji but $1700RT each put that idea to bed very quickly.

From New York to Hawaii can be steep as well.

Glad I only have to worry about 3 and not 7.

[Gary1998 Member Find all posts View Profile Close Gary1998]

I am totally gobsmacked.

Gobsmacked....Never heard that one before but I love it.....

[JWC Super Moderator Find all posts View Profile Close JWC]

Depends how many stops you have. I am flying to Las Vegas this Thursday. The price of the ticket from ONT to LAS r/t is $96 + $20 in fees and taxes. I purchased our tickets from Los Angeles to Cancun for this April. The Ticket cost $788 for LAX to CUN r/t first class. The total taxes are $95.

[Carolinian Super Moderator Find all posts View Profile Close Carolinian]

This is a sore subject.

Some countries are gouging passengers. France started with a tax on air passengers to pay for third world social programs. What do air passengers have to do with that? Chirac added about $20 to economy long haul fares for that tax a few years ago.

Then the Gordon Brown of the UK slapped on a new tax of over $100 on long haul ecomony fares out of the UK for the stated purpose of discouraging air travel to ''save the planet''. Since the amount to be raised happened to correspond to the UK's shortfall in its Olympics budget, some suspected that this was the real reason.

Now the Netherlands has adopted a ''save the planet'' tax of over $100 on long haul economy flights effective July 1. There does not seem to be any real idea where that money will go, or if they really have gone over to such radical environmentalism or if it is just another way to gouge people for more taxes.

More recently some airlines have gotten into the game with ''surcharges''. Often these are ''fuel surcharges'' which they place on the tax line. This means that you have to pay it on an award ticket. Since fuel is one of the essential costs of the basic product, this is simply dishonest of the airlines. If costs go up, just raise the fares if you have to, but don't cheat your frequent flyers with these phony ''taxes''. What's next? A pilot surcharge if they have to raise wages? A wing surcharge if the price of airplanes go up?

European airlines have been absolutely horrible on these surcharges, and it sometimes impacts US flyers whose tickets have segments on partner airlines.

In the US, Delta, a few weeks ago quietly started adding a ''Delta surcharge'' to all tickets, paid or award, that originate or go through certain European markets, including France, its main European gateway. The surcharge is about $200, but is for now only added if your trip originates in Europe, and often means that the same trip originating in the US works out about $200 cheaper than if originating in Europe. I recently found summer 08 award seats on DL for a relative with flights originating in Europe and was quoted $332 by DL for taxes. When I inquired about this excessive amount, I was bounced around, given the runaround, and directly lied to by DL before I got someone at the revenue desk who told me that it was a Delta Surcharge, that they did not specify exactly what it was for, and that this surcharge was now in certain European markets, but would soon be added to all of Europe, and thereafter to flights to Europe originating in the US, and ultimately the entire DL system. Fortunately, I found award seats for that flight on NW, which wanted just $84 in taxes, and used them instead of DL. Now, I am trying to figure out how to burn my remaining DL miles to avoid this ripoff fee while I can, and keeping my fingers crossed that the DL pirates don't take over NW where most of my miles are.

I suggest you call the airline and demand to know exactly what there ''taxes'' are. From some postings on FlyerTalk, it appears that DL's little scam would violate USDOT rules if they try to do it on flights originating in the US and may even do so on flights from Europe.

[CarolF Senior Member Find all posts View Profile Close CarolF]

Sydney, I've been checking out flights recently and yes I am gobsmacked by the fees and charges too.

Tiger Airways are offering their cheap flights today. I checked out a Melbourne to Singapore flight - costs are:

Flight ticket (one way) $24.27 AUD
Taxes and Fees $175.68 AUD

still extremely cheap, but an interesting example of the cost of the extra fees and taxes.

[Sydney Contributor - Bronze Find all posts View Profile Close Sydney]

Thanks for the responses so far.

The travel agent said most of it is a fuel surcharge. She said we had about 5 fuel surcharges added in the last couple of years.

So Carolinian is right that they should be adding this cost onto the ticket price but they want to gouge FF members as well. I guess they justify it by saying that Australia is so far from Europe and the U.S.

Maybe we'll have to look at an Asian holiday instead. Carol, that is really expensive for one way, but I guess it's better than $1300! Looks like we should try Singapore instead.

Anyone want to have a TS4Ms gettogether in Australia or Asia?

[x3skier Senior Member Find all posts View Profile Close x3skier]

I agree that adding fees and surcharges (except Govt required) to a price is a sneaky way to raise prices. However, fares are still relatively cheap compared to ten years ago. Most things have increased in prices but airline fares are somewhat constant. Its still a deal compared to what I used to pay for hotels compared to what I pay today.

As to why they hide fees I suspect it is to attempt to hide the actual charges from the competition even if it irritates the customer. I doubt if the first is effective while the second is a certainty.

Cheers

[katiemack Super Moderator Find all posts View Profile Close katiemack]

We just had spoken to our DD who was trying to get tickets to Prague from NY and she also was amazed that there was a $400 plus surcharge or tax above the cost of the ticket. She wanted to know how to find a cheaper ticket, and I told her that in all likelihood the charge couldn't be gotten around....but I don't know if it was Delta she had checked, maybe it was airline specific rather than country specific. Thanks Carolinian for the information, and Syd, good luck trying to find a more affordable way to Hawaii...I hope you are able to find a way to enjoy that trip!

[Carolinian Super Moderator Find all posts View Profile Close Carolinian]

We just had spoken to our DD who was trying to get tickets to Prague from NY and she also was amazed that there was a $400 plus surcharge or tax above the cost of the ticket. She wanted to know how to find a cheaper ticket, and I told her that in all likelihood the charge couldn't be gotten around....but I don't know if it was Delta she had checked, maybe it was airline specific rather than country specific. Thanks Carolinian for the information, and Syd, good luck trying to find a more affordable way to Hawaii...I hope you are able to find a way to enjoy that trip!

Try NW.

Or fly anywhere she can avoid the fee, and then use an LCC.

[katiemack Super Moderator Find all posts View Profile Close katiemack]

Great idea! Thanks again, Carolinian.

[camachinist Super Moderator Find all posts View Profile Close camachinist]

For those who like to be creative, there has been a PLN (Priceline) workaround for YQ (fuel surcharge) on UA for TATL. Most I've seen is 170USD off the YQ. Details in the mileage run forum on Flyertalk. Trips from my local on the west coast to FRA/MUC, etc, running as low as 328.00 all-in for Feb/Mar.

Have a nice day

[Carolinian Super Moderator Find all posts View Profile Close Carolinian]

For deals to Europe, I would watch the Milage Run board at FlyerTalk - The world's most popular frequent flyer community and also look at links to intra-Europe and trans-Atlantic LCC's , as well as major US and European legacy carriers on the TS4MS link directory at Timeshare Forums - Timeshare Links Directory - Airline Websites