Why do airlines announce "fare deals" and DON'T include taxes/fees?
 

This is major pet peeve of mine since its not consistent in the industry. Some airlines/travel sites quote airfares <b>INCLUDING taxes, fees and others don't.</b>

Nothing gets me more angry than getting excited about a fare and once I plug in dates, it comes back $150+ more than listed. It makes me feel duped. It wouldn't be so bad if this were an industry standard, but there are <u>many</u> which INCLUDE taxes, fees when listing their prices.

Why is this? Isn't there a regulation that would require all "hidden costs" to be stipulated up front?

Frustrating.......

Because your government doesn't make them do it.
In the EU all airlines now have to include all fees and taxes in the price shown. This was partly brought about because of the likes of Ryanair advertising one pound flights and not mentioning all the taxes fee, booking charges etc etc that they the apply.

Although they are still all not doing it in the EU - I recently booked flights with Jet2 which started out at about £50pp return and ended up £140pp. But you expect it might happen, don't you - and go through the full process to find out how much it really is before getting excited ?

Thx for shedding light on the situation. Something needs to be done about this.

Most of the major sites I peruse (Expedia, Orbitz, etc.) all list <b>fees included</b> so I'm used to that. It's when I delve further on other discount sites that I find this "not including taxes". And now, I'm finding more and more
of the airlines doing it. Moral of the story....I just need to stick to the sites I'm used to (and those that list fees/taxes upfront).

It's just darned confusing and inconsistent. Especially since the internet is global and not really geared to a specific "country" per se.

For the same reason car companies advertise $199.00 per month payments. Read the small print and it says "with a $5000 trade-in, $2500 down payment, 36 month LEASE (only 10,000 miles per year), no options included and tax and tags additional". Ever hear those radio ads where the voice in the background mutters a litany of disclaimers while the announcer raves on and on about special White Tent sales?

Or when you shop for a new computer. The advertised prize doesn't include a monitor, keyboard, DVD drive, shipping and handling, tax and is for a refurbished unit.

They do it because they can get away with it.

This is almost as pointless a question as "Why don't politicians tell the truth"?

It's called advertising. They do it to attract people. It would be nice to know the full price up front, but I'm never duped because if you've ever read these ads, you know about it. It's just hard to read the fine print sometimes, actually, it's so small.

Websites like Expedia, etc. aren't exactly running ads so much in their search engines, and what is published as an ad is meant to grab your attention. They always quote them one-way also, based on a RT, and they do that just to make the fare seem smaller. It's psychological, there are tons of studies on that kind of pricing (ie, why people will buy something at $24.99 more than $25).

I guess I'm being naive and just need to stick to the sites that I have perused in the past which have always given me upfront info.

Cariline - I am surprised. There is a running total which includes the taxes and fees shown when you are choosing your flights, and the prices quoted on the home page are inclusive of fees and taxes. Ok you still pay for using a credit card and for check in fees and baggage fees but then you do on a lot of airlines now, including Aer Lingus.

Hi hetismij. No, Jet2 are being really bad and still adding on "taxes etc" to the initial prices shown, and you only see the total at the end - I think they are the worst of any I use for this now. I just retried booking the same journey I booked recently (Edinburgh-Venice next September) and the prices which initially come up are now £49.99 out and £19.99 back, so total £69.98. They then add £45.50 for "taxes & charges", £23.98 for 1 piece of hold baggage (OK, that is optional), £6 for online check-in (!), £5.09 booking fee (!!) and £3.39 for paying by credit card, all adding up to £153.94; plus if not careful to opt out I could pay additionally for meals, insurance, seat selection & a text confirmation (!). Try it if you don't believe me ! (www.jet2.com)

It is annoying since they were quite good at giving fairly all-inclusive fares when I booked the same journey last time, when the only extras were the ones you expect nowadays. The things which annoys me with all of them is that "taxes etc", as if it is all going to the government and not mostly a cover for the airline to charge more.

But still, as I said, it is kind of what you expect, so you just have to expect to go through all the screens to find out how much it would really be.

BA & bmi still behave like proper airlines though :-)

Just because. If the fare is too good to be true, it probably needs taxes. And I also suspect the taxes are different for different departures. It isn't hard.

Just did a Jet2 booking - initial price £46.99. final price £47.99.

Like most other lows costs (and some not so low costs) this side of the Pond they display the price INCLUDING taxes & charges at the point you select the flight - which is within EU law.

As I don't need checked luggage or airport check-and I used an Electron card to book the only additional charge was £1 for on-line checkin - which is illegal under EU law as you have to pay either £1 or £3 unless they do some flights with no check-in charge

So the price I was given was the price I paid (plus £1) so it is feasible to get the initial price even with Jet2 - can you do the same with the initial price given in the US?

Why should they include taxes? It may make it more convenient for you to do the mental math but then you lose any concept of the fees and taxes governments are charging the airlines for your flight.

Including taxes makes you think the entire amount you pay for your ticket is revenue to the airline. When airlines tell you how much their actual ticket is, it's amazing how much less it sounds. This isn't false advertising. It's just seperating their price for the ticket from the rest of what you pay.

Sales taxes aren't normally included in retail prices in the US. We recognize it as an extra cost and notice it when the percentage is high. Gas taxes on the other hand are a significant portion of the cost of filling our tanks yet most people think the oil companies are gouging us because the tax is included in the price.

Since I prefer lower taxes, I prefer taxes not be hidden. People are more likely to keep taxes in line if they are aware they're paying them. If the government makes the airlines quote the price including taxes and fees, government is the one practicing shady marketing tactics. Maybe gas should be quoted without taxes so we would quickly realize how much we pay and demand more for the money.

depends on the law (and it's enforcement) in the country where they are advertisng. In Australia they must show the fare including taxes and charges.

bdjtbenson.. it may be your point of view, but advertising net prices is illegal under EU law if the services or goods are targeted at the end consumer, i.e. all B2C business.
Any price tag you will see at Harrods in London or a small country grocery store in Andalucia will include all taxes. It's the law, period.
Some budget airlines tried to get around that in the past, though their main objective might not have been to hide gov taxes (VAT) but airport fees (which are simply a service fee from a private or PPP business and no tax at all).

If the airlines wishes to display the amount of taxes and fees, they can and will do so in the course of the booking when they show the several items that make up the total price.

Only a small fraction of former "surcharges" that got hidden were actual taxes in the sense of VAT or sales taxes or similar but airport fees, e.g. departure fee, security fee, fuel surcharges etc. Some of those had legal foundations, like the securiry fee, others like fuel surcharges or airport fees had nothing to do with taxes anyway.

It is still legal to advertise very low fares, like Ryanair's €5 or €10 fares, if any additional surcharges are optional (if only hypothecally, e.g. if you use a Visa Electron card vs regular CC, or for extra fees like for checked luggage, etc)

P.S. When was the last time you "kept taxes in line"? You may complain about taxes when having a beer with your buddies or letting off steam in an online forum, but when was the last time you got your government to reduce VAT, or in your case, your state's sales tax?

In addition to "because they can" they do it so that in fare compare searches their tickets will show up higher on the list.
Unlike in the EU, in the US retail sales tax is traditionally added at the time of purchase - what you see on the price tag is not the total cost.

In Australia, businesses are still free to advertise component prices, but must also include a 'just as prominent' total or single price which must include all taxes, duties and fees -

http://www.accc.gov.au/content/index.../itemId/869875