Fuel surcharges on international flights--are they being piled on?
 

Hi--

How much are these these days? Have the airlines been consistently adding them in the last 6 weeks or so?

I've been thinking about Peru but haven't booked. About 4 to 6 weeks ago I could find a fare for just over $700 from MSP to LIM in mid May. Then they went up to low to mid $800s per person. Now we're talking low $900s. This is not just for a specific set of dates; it seems to be across the board. One agent just told me that for the Continental flights I am looking at there is now $150 in fuel surcharges. I know oil is at an all-time high. Are airlines continually tacking these on to airfares? We'd like to travel but have already eliminated Europe from the mix because of the dismal state of the $. Now it seems as though airfares may start pricing lots of people out altogether.

Have you checked the airline stocks lately? The fuel is killing us!

I wasn't aware that Europe is the only place the dollar is weak?

In recent years, we bumped Hong Kong to the top of our list, since their dollar was fixed with respect to ours. They outsmarted me by just raising prices.

We also visited Alaska and Hawaii. Both were nice, but Hawaii was very crowded with Japanese taking advantage of their stronger yen.

It goes against my frugal nature, but changes in the value of currencies doesn't seem to be a major cost factor in our travel. Certainly the days of the 92 cent euro were pleasant, but changes in the euro over the last year have not been of such a magnitude as to make us forgo our pursuit of great art and culture.

I think planning based on currency exchange rates would be difficult, because they change constantly. I made a deposit in euro on a houseboat a few months ago for a trip in May. Since then, the euro has gone up, but so have the euro I made my deposit with, so we're going ahead to see the tulips, but we probably won't eat as much, which may not be an entirely bad thing.

I'm a bit curious as to why airlines employ a fuel surcharge rather than just raising their fares. I suspect keeping an artificially low fare makes them look better on the search engines, and perhaps many people commit based on the fare, without backing out after seeing the surcharges. I think a lot of taxes and user fees are based on fares, and if this is so, a surcharge could save us some tax expense.

Airlines impose fuel surcharges to keep price low in ads and displays in searches. Also, I know many European airlines add fuel surcharges to FF awards.

Continental does not do fuel surcharges. They simply raise the fare.

I don't think tax is an issue. I believe all airfare taxes are independent on fares.

So, for international travel have most airlines been either raising their prices or tacking on fuel surcharges in the last month or so? Is this the new reality as far as fares go?

Just check to make sure that the price includes all taxes. British Airways is famous for quoting price each way without taxes. Often the taxes are $300. This price is added to the ticket when purchased with frequent flyer miles.

rkk...Just curious, but where do you
get that CO "does not do" fuel surcharges??

Beachboi -

You search for any CO fare on co.com, it'll give you the pre-tax price, and after you choose your flights, the final price that's fare + tax. I've never seen any fuel surcharge there.

For example, EWR-HKG 4/10-4/17. Roundtrip "Q" fare is $767. Tax and fees is $70.70, for a total of 837.70.

You go to beta.itasoftware.com and search for some flights, and you get the same quote. Click on "booking details", and you'll find that $70.70 consists of:

$2.50 9/11 security fee
$15.40 US departure tax
$4.50 US facility charge
$15.40 US international arrival tax
HK$120 departure tax
$5.50 US customs fee
$7.00 US immigration fee
$5.00 USDA APHIS fee

There is no YQ or fuel surcharge anywhere there. And I have never "fuel charges" on any CO fare anywhere else in the many years I've looked at their fares.

Now, if it's an award on a partner, then it's a different matter.

If anybody sees a CO "fuel surcharge" or any other type of surcharge in their fares, please let me know.

In contrast, if you look at CX fares for JFK-HKG the same dates, you get a fare of $779 but tax and fees of $200.96.

So, the CX fare seems like it's only $13 more, but they tag on a $130.20 CX YR fuel surcharge. So, final fare is actually $979.96, or over $140 higher.

In fact, even if you FF miles, you'll need to pay that $200, compared to $70 on CO.

I would recommend that you book your flights as soon as possible - they are just going to keep going up, so it's probably best to book now.... From what I see, the prices are just going up everywhere - with fuel being as expensive as it is (I think its $130 per barrel now), the airlines are having to raise prices to keep afloat. They call it different things, but the only thing we probably all care about is what it costs us for that ticket.... Good luck - I love Peru, very nice people....

rkk...Many Thanks! I normally dont book online.....But when I tapped into the GDS system I have access to, here's what I saw:
ADT-01 Y2HKW
EWR CO HKG Q59.70 2248.00Y2HKW NUC2307.70END ROE1.00 XFEWR4.5
-REFUNDABLE-
VALIDATING CARRIER - CO

This is a fare quote showing the fare of a "Y" seat/Adult fare EWR HKG...Q59.70 is in fact the fuel surcharge....2248.00 is the "base fare"...So, yes CO does "have" fuel surcharges.....

I see. I guess we're talking about different things then.

I sat next to a "marketing executive" with some airline cant remember which and he explained that most travellers woould accept a "fuel surcharge" tacked on to a fare before they would accept a "fare increase"..His words not mine..

So what does ita show for the fare for a CO Y2HKW fare: $2248 or $2307.30?