Airline Surcharges, Taxes and Fees
Anyone who has purchased airline flight tickets online knows that some websites automatically include all airline surcharges, taxes and fees, while others do not. A seemingly cheap travel deal may end up costing another $100 in the end. On one hand, base fares need to remain competitively low to entice buyers. But on the other hand, the rising cost of fuel is forcing many airline carriers to tack on extra surcharges for baggage. The next time you book a flight, here are some recent changes to consider.
Many people complain about the cost of airline flight tickets these days. One complaint is that "taxes and surcharges keep going up." Some of these airline ticket fees are automatically added on, while others are completely avoidable. For instance, you will not be able to avoid some of the airport security fee taxes, such as the 9/11 Security Fee ($10), the Passenger Facility Charges ($18), the Federal Domestic Flight Segment Fee ($3.50 each way), the U.S. International Departure tax ($15.40 per international departure), the US International Arrival tax ($15.40), the US Customs fee ($5), the Immigration fee ($7) and an Animal and Plant Health Inspection fee ($5).
For a list of avoidable airline flight fees, visit www.usatoday.com/money/industries/travel/2009-06-22-chart-airline-fees_N.htm. If you want to truly find cheap flight tickets, then you're going to have to make some concessions. In the past, you may have been able to choose any economy flight seat for one price, but today's flier will pay $7 for an aisle or window seat and $20 for an emergency exit row seat on US Airways, British Airways, United and Spirit. In the good old days, your holiday flight fares would have still been expensive, but they wouldn't have had the extra $10 "holiday surcharge" that American, United, Delta and US Airways have added to November 29, January 2 and January 3 flights.
Even though there are many complaints about airline surcharges, taxes and fees, it's a misconception that airline carriers are just out to "nickel and dime" passengers. Rather, they're desperately trying to stay competitive and stay afloat. According to the Air Transport Association, 40% of your ticket will go toward fuel price (compared to 15% back in 2000). Despite this reality, the average cost to fly was the same in 2009 as it was in 1998, according to the Department of Transportation. The Boyd Group found that the average domestic fare paid by passengers in 2007 was $181.91 (with $25.78 going toward taxes and fees, $74.03 going toward fuel and $82.10 in profit for the airlines) and in 2000, the average price was $188.16 (with $20.08 in taxes and fees, $31.77 for fuel and $136.31 in profit for the airlines). With fuel costs cutting so deeply into profit margins, it seems the airlines either need to raise their ticket prices, find alternate fuels or face the threat of bankruptcy.
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