I have traveled quite a bit in Europe, but only recently had my first visit to the Caribbean.

I was a little stunned that I had to pay $10 US dollars in order to get to my departure gate. It is like a "goodbye tax", a totally ridiculous fee charged because the country has you over a barrel if you want to leave. I don't recall any airline, guidebook or travel agent disclosing this fee. How common is this practice in the Caribbean region? Thanks.

very common

In Canada it's called an 'airport improvement tax'.In Dominican Republic I don't remember how much it was, but you must pay in US$, not the local currency.

VERY COMMOM...unfortunately...
depending on the island, some of the fees are higher..$10 wasn't bad.
I remember reading a list of which island charges which amount in one of the Caribbean travel magazines.
I guess they do it cause they can.

I've encountered it on every single Caribbean island I've ever been to. At times, I've paid as high as US $20 to depart to the US.

We even have to pay this departure tax when flying locally among the islands, however, it's considerably less when traveling locally, than if you are leaving the island territories.

to get out of Cuba it is $25 US. That is high. I think DR is $10. Jamaica is pretty high too, but some airlines include it in the fare...Air Canada had it included as $34 Canadian, but I saw some people paying something like $27 US at a booth to get out. I think they should just include it in the cost of the ticket, then it doesn't seem so bad. As an earlier poster mentioned in Canada there is an airport improvment fee, but a lot of Canadian airports just include it in the cost, like Toronto is paid on the ticket, but Vancouver is paid locally.

You travel agent should have told you about this.

Also, Very common in Asia and Mexico . Many times included in ticket price.
Good Luck

is this charged coming out of St Thomas too?

No, it is not charged coming out of the USVI!!
Ronnie

you get charged "departure tax" when you leave most countries in the majority of cases it is built into the ticket price,my wife is flying from Nassau-Miami-Puerto -Rico and has $44 in "taxes" on the the ticket,this does not include departure tax paid at checkin in Nassau of $15.For some reason Caribbean countries prefer to take this tax in cash as it is supposed to be easier for them to do it that way rather than rely on the airline to mail them a check.
Bottom line is it is there -you just don't know it!

Flights between the US and Puerto Rico have $34-38 added in taxes above the base fare. To keep this in perspective, my husband just purchased a ticket yesterday from Philadelphia, PA to Kalamazoo, MI and he had $58 in taxes above the base fare.

I always have additional taxes figured into my airfare, on American Airlines or other airlines, from the Caribbean to wherever I may be going. However, I still have to pay a separate "departure tax" before I can pass thru security when I leave the Caribbean islands.

I think that when leaving the US, the tax included in your ticket is something completely different than an actual "departure tax" that a lot of other countries charge.