Airline fee question
 

hello i am finally getting my ticket tommarrow and am still deciding between BA which is 484 round trip direct and AA which is 447 roundtrip direct. I was just wondering when I see the breakdown of the fare and the fees the fees taxes etc is almost double for BA it was the same with AA why are the fees less for AA? Also are those fares good prices for the begginning of March?
Thanks

Hi, in order to advise if those airfares are a good price or not, we neeed to know where you are flying FROM and TO (I'm assuming the UK?).

I don't have an answer for the higher taxes/fees on BA but I've noticed them too and would be very interested to know why if another Fodorite has that info.

Eight days ago, about midway through a thread that ran for several dozens of posts, rd1 clarified that the origination is Miami.

I was amazed that the earlier thread ran on so long, without any indication where the travel was beginning.

Best wishes,

Rex

I am sorry do always forget to put where I am flying from. It is Miami London in early March of 2006. I think the reason it ran so long in the earlier post with out a destination is bacause I was at first just asking generally what people thought about the specific airlines and then towards the middle it got more detailed about price, schedules etc and the location was needed at that time to properly answer the questions
Thanks

Don't know your itinerary but the usual suspects are:

1. LHR taxes - every time you land/take off at Heathrow HM Govt. gets a few quid. BA of course is Master and Commander of Heathrow, so that might be part of it, e.g. if your itinerary has you connecting through LHR.

2. Fuel surcharges - BA has imposed fuel surcharges and is not taking them off as quickly as some other airlines. I suspect part of this has to do with the fuel depot explosion a couple of months ago - LHR has imposed strict fuel supply regulations on the airlines that use the airport (short supplies). For instance foreign carriers like AA are instructed to "tanker" fuel in, meaning that part of your London-JFK fuel is being brought from New York so that the plane has lower demands on LHR fuel reserves. Since LHR is BA's hub, they get dibs on the fuel there, so they have to pay the additional cost of scarce local reserves, and they pass that on to you.

But I don't know your specifics, so one or both of those reasons might be wrong.

The bottom line is really the only thing that matters as to the price. But, if you got quotes, they should break out exactly what the fees and taxes are, so you can tell. I suspect it is because I think I've heard that BA is adding some charges in that would normally be called air fare by other airlines--these aren't taxes but their own fees (eg, "fuel surcharge"). That's just a guess, but I think the fare quote should say.

I think those are good fares myself for RT Miami/London in March Any RT fare from US to Europe that is less than $500 I consider pretty good, but especially from Miami.

Taxs and fees don't matter to you. You only need to know the final price.

BA and many international carriers set aside the fuel surchages as tax/fees. US airlines just raise their fares.

Same result.

Thanks for the replies!