travelerquestion

Recently I have noticed some great sounding RT airfare deals to a variety of European Cities from Washington or New York. The prices were great until I found out about the taxes and fees connected with the ticket.

For example, taxes to London can be as much as $135.00 depending on the routing. The anmount of taxes seem to creep up every year without notice or discussion.

Here is an opportunity for everyone to pent about crazy taxes to Europe and once you get to Europe. Tell us your taxes horror stories!

Gretchen

That seems pretty regular for the last few years. They always advertise the fares without taxes so you just know to add that $100+ .

rhkkmk

i find that it is about $100 on average, but i find the uk to be the highest....each stop entails more taxes to i believe...so direct place to place is the cheapest

doc_

Unfortunatly..travel is not a nessecity. Therefore,they will tax the heck out of it. If you are traveling for business,the fare can be a tax deduction.

Government has become much more involved in travel since 9/11 and we will pay taxes to support it.

AAFrequentFlyer

It's the easiest tax for politicians raise. After all, who's going to complain? The visitors don't have any power over the politicians outside of boycotting that country. And that my friends is an impossible task to accomplish, meaning, to get all of us travelers to organize. So don't expect this to change anytime soon.

UK realized that they are the transit point between Americas and Europe, so they jumped on it long time ago. They are probably the highest. If you happen to fly in business or first there is additional luxury tax.

jbee

I have a question about these taxes... We're planning a trip to Italy in May 2004 and I was looking at airfare from NYC through London to Milan or Venice.

Does that mean we would have $100-150 pp added on to London, then another set of taxes on the flight to Italy? (A grand total of $400-$600 extra?) If so, a direct flight to Italy would be cheaper?

Sue_xx_yy

jbee

Taxes on a ticket London Gatwick to Venice are about GBP 30 pp. As for whether the direct flight is cheaper, maybe not: the base fare might be higher. You should look at the total ticket cost. Bon voyage.

jbee

Sue-
Thanks for the info. We're waiting on our airfare because we're hoping the base price will drop before May. Do you know what the taxes are like on a direct flight from the US to Italy? Will it still be around $100 pp?

I'm so glad for this forum! I never knew about extra taxes on tickets. It could have gotten nasty. Eek!

Sue_xx_yy

jbee

I think the safest suggestion to make is for you to go onto a site like Expedia and plug in your itinerary. They'll give you a breakdown of the total fare. But truly, I wouldn't sweat the tax business, variations in fare due to tax are generally small, compared to variations in fare due to season, overall market demand, market preferences (i.e. re time of departure and arrival, prime time fares tend to be steeper), nonstop versus convoluted itineraries, faster versus longer flight times, etc. etc. You really need to just focus on the bottom line, taxes in. The route with the highest tax might still have the cheapest overall fare and/or flight times that are more to your preference. Good luck.

AAFrequentFlyer

I agree. The taxes will be there no matter what. Different taxes are applied for different itn. The tax itself is broken down to many components, such as arrival, departure, connection only, security, airport upkeep, etc...etc...
The bottom line is this. The taxes will be part of your fare, so if a connecting flight is cheaper, don't worry about some additional charges, there won't be any, as the fare will include all the taxes.

sandi

Travel to London from the States has always had the highest taxes, and everytime one turns around a new tax is added, especially since 9/11. It's just the cost of doing business, fighting terrorism, or whatever. Regardless where you'll be flying, there will be taxes, though for foreign countries, their portion of the tax will fluctuate depending on the country.

Go with the best base fare for the date and time you want to fly - you'll be paying taxes regardless.

jbee - Delta flies JFK to Milan and/or Venice non-stop, check to see what their fares are as opposed to connecting in London or Paris.

But taxes are here to stay!

jbee

Thanks for all the info. Mr. jbee left me in charge of the logistics while he gets to plan all the fun stuff. I think I'm getting a raw deal!

I tried the Expedia thing and noticed that all taxes were included. It's making more sense now, and I know to check for that before booking!

RufusTFirefly

I haven't seen a web site yet that doesn't give you the total fare including taxes and fees before you actually pay. Just look carefully at the totals before you push that "Buy tickets" button.