cheapest airport taxes
 

Hi,

I'm planning a trip to Paris in June for a wedding.

I was thinking since I want to visit some other places in Europe that rather than pay the $250+ in airport taxes (roud trip) to Paris, has anyone actually evaluated which airport is cheapest to fly into for taxes? I found some great fares in general, but the taxes seem to be the big problem.

I read somewhere that Amsterdam may be the cheapest, but I wasn't finding that to be the case in my flight searches. I was wishing there was a Web site that explains all this (what each airport charges in taxes), but I can't find one.

Thanks!

I use www.kayak.com to search for flights and prices. The prices they show are inclusive of taxes.

A quick search (mid June) shows CO EWR -> CDG = $1168, including a total of $118 taxes. EWR -> AMS = $1036, including $95 taxes.

At least according to CO website the difference in fare isn't due to taxes.

If you add on the time and cost train from AMS to Paris only you can decide what is the right thing to do.

The exact amount may differ from day to day as the European taxes are in euro.

But J62 is correct that for a US-CDG roundtrip in coach, total tax is about $115. Anything you pay more, it's not tax, it's what the airline tagged on, calling it "fuel surcharge". It is nothing but just part of the fare.

If you break down that ~$115, the part charged by the Europeans are:

€4.00 French Air Passenger Solidarity Tax
€9.63 French Airport Tax
€16.43 French International Passenger Service Charge
€7.04 French Aviation Civile Tax

That's €37.1 or about $58. The rest is fees and taxes charged by the US.

For AMS, it's about €25, or $39.

For BRU, it's about €24, or $38.

If I remember correctly, the cheapest taxes for a US-Europe ticket is going to Ireland. It's about €17, or $27.

But if you're going to Paris, then the huge sum of $31 you saved in US-Europe airport tax will be wiped out by any additional transportation means, and if you're flying (say from Ireland), then the taxes and fees of the additional flight.

Check EWR-HAM for low taxes.. just some €12.
But I would not want to train or fly from Hamburg to Paris for the difference in taxes ;-)

Thanks, cowbody. CGN is also very cheap. Under €13.

FRA, TXL and other airports are significantly higher.

London ones are the most expensive, even Stansted which is not in London !

Everyone else has pretty much covered this. As J62 and Rkkwan pointed out the range for "airport taxes" with US-CDG flights is about $85-120 with most being in the $110-115 range.

But why worry about what the tax is in the first place? Unless you are for some reason morally opposed to paying a higher airport tax shouldn't the major factor be the total cost? As J62 pointed out, the airlines and travel booking sites give you the inclusive price. As Rkkwan illustrated the difference in taxes is fairly insignificant. What is demonstration assumes (for the sake of simplicity) and what the OP seems to imply is all US to Europe are the same. They aren't.

There are people who have found clever ways to get to Paris that save money, but generally speaking when you factor in the cost of a connecting flight or train and the time associated with an additional connection, the monetary benefit from the flight is negated.