Transparent airline pricing in Europe
 

I know that the European parliament wants airlines to show all hidden costs when it advertises flight prices. Ryanair comes in for much critisism for advertising a flight at £0.99 and it costing £20 after addition of taxes and credit card surcharges (The latter being unavoidable as the 99p fare is internet only)

While looking at an Alpi Eagles flight advertised for €0.90 with a few extras:

Adult Tax: € 5,58
Baggage Tax: € 1,10
Airport Tax: € 1,81
Local Tax: € 2,00
Dom On VAT: € 1,05
Carrier Surcharge: € 18,00
Fuel Surcharge: € 37,00

making the final price €85.94

Is there still anyone who doesn't know that there are fees and taxes in addition to the posted fares for all airlines?

((I))

I'm sure everybody knows, but I have never seen quite this level of "add ons" before.
In particular a "Fuel levy" and "Carrier Surcharge" that together amount to more than 60% of the fare.

I thought that the fact that the EU wants to legislate to stop such practices might interest people, but obviously not.

It would be a good idea to require all businesses to show total, all-inclusive prices. But I would also want to see the individual cost items broken out--I want to know how much is going to the vendor, the government, etc.

I should think that full disclosure of the all-in price would give an airline a competitive advantage. Rather than screw around with carriers who refuse to post their net price up front, customers would rather see the total, decide if it's reasonable, and put their money down.

I know I would.

<i>If it sounds too good to be true, it probably is.</i>

More people chose to fly last year with European low-cost airlines than to vote in the last elections for the European Parliament.

Perhaps democracy might be better served if low-cost passengers were allowed to vote on whether they wanted this bunch of gravy-train riders to stick their snouts into a bit of the European economy that's working fantastically effectively.

When we agree to buy a Ryanair ticket, we know what we're getting and what we're paying for it.

Would that were true of the European Commission, whose accounts haven't been accepted by the auditors for years.

Fuel surchage = Fare.

It's not levied by any government authorities. Only the airline itself. If these stupid European airlines keep doing this, all tickets will soon be free, but they'll just break down the fare to flight attendant &quot;surcharge&quot;, pilot salary &quot;surcharge&quot;, seat mainentance &quot;surcharge&quot;, fleet lease &quot;surcharge&quot;, etc...

And for those saving FF miles on a European program, they're already being affected by that practice. Say someone with a Delta program can get a US-Europe roundtrip for 50K miles plus about $100, a AF/KL Flying Blue member may be playing $100-200 extra in &quot;fuel surcharge&quot; on top of the miles.

willit, I agree with you that it's quite ridiculous to advertise a fare for E0.90 and then add a &quot;Carrier Surcharge&quot; of E18,00 and a &quot;Fuel Surcharge&quot; of E37,00.

flanneruk--the airlines already show the all inclusive price just before you actually pay. Why not have them show it up front so one doesn't have to go thru several online screens to finally find out what the real cost is? Shouldn't cost them anything more than it does now as they eventually show the full price anyway.

How will people know on what to base the pilot tip?

Just as it was a great relief in France when all restaurant menus become &quot;service included&quot; and you pay the exact price that is marked, it will be a great relief when travel prices do the same, not to mention the day that American stores decide to include the tax in the price and not tack it on at the cash register.

For a start, I myself visit only travel sites that advertise total all-taxes-and-charges-included fares and boycott the others. If others did this, there might be a movement to more truth in advertising.

&lt; the airlines already show the all inclusive price just before you actually pay &gt;

Which, if you are COMPARING prices is a PITA and means something that should take 5 minutes ends up taking an hour or more.

Of course you could always use skyscanner - but that doesn't have all LCCs

You tip the pilot based on the number of turbulent air periods during the flight and the number of bounces during landing; the lower the number the higher the tip.

Presumably a clever pilot would negotiate his tip while still in the air ?

It could be worse - - it could be like costs in healthcare...

Best wishes,

Rex