COMMENT: So This is What You Actually Pay
If you go and buy a TV set, or a bunch of bananas, the price advertised is what you will pay. True, you might get a discount (unlikely for bananas). The same goes when attending, say a soccer match. Your admission includes VAT, security, the players” wages and the use of the ground. Whatever the case, the price is shown and that is that.
Not so in the world of air travel. Nothing seems to be straightforward and the public is confused. To try and bring some sense into the proceedings, the Air Transport Users Council (AUC), the UK's consumer organisation for air travellers, has undertaken some research regarding pricing on airline websites. The taxes, fees and charges (TFCs), quoted by various carriers on their websites during the booking process, includes such items as air passenger duty, local airport taxes, passenger service charges, credit and debit card charges, fuel, security, insurance and even wheelchair contributions. They are usually quoted separately from the basic fare and normally in the latter stages of the booking process. Often, the first the passenger knows of these costs is after they have already chosen their flights and are just about to confirm the booking. As the AUC points out, the advertised base price could be very low and bear no relationship to the actual cost. A third party might impose on a carrier some of the TFCs (such as airport taxes), but a large proportion of the TFCs could be considered costs of doing the business. For example, extra fuel costs are itemised separately as fuel surcharges, when they are simply a cost of doing business with any supplier be it cabin crew uniforms, or in-flight catering.
Taking for example KLM, Bristol ” Amsterdam, 56% of the fare for a typical day was a TFC charge (total ”94.70/TFC ”52.70). BA Heathrow ” Paris, 64% (”68.20/”43.20), but bmi on the same routes, only asks for a TCF of ”39.90. Ryanair has a TFC charge of ”22.02 to Valencia but with easyJet, it will only cost you ”9.50 to the same place. At Bristol, easyJet”s extra charges are ”10 to Glasgow, whilst BA will want ”39.10 from you.
When it comes to ”plastic”, Ryanair and FlyBe demand ”1.75 each sector and bmi and easyJet come in at ”4, but that is for a return flight. BA does not charge, nor does it for a debit card. With these cards Ryanair and FlyBe want 40p of your money per sector, although it is instantly in their account.
With newspaper advertising, normality is now the thing (following a complaint to the Advertising Standards Association by the AUC). You pay the price advertised (as long as it has not changed in the meantime), but even here typically Ryanair charges for the use of plastic, whilst BA does not.
The Internet has arrived. It has changed dramatically how air tickets are sold (and made the life of financial controllers much easier ” airlines as a general rule now work in a cash positive environment and credit teams don”t spend their time chasing money). ABTN reports below on a new online luggage initiative, which is bound to catch on quickly. Another great 21st century cost saver.
The airlines have got to be open and properly transparent when it comes to ticket prices. The fare shown on the front page (or its equivalent) has to be the fare paid. Well done the AUC for highlighting the gibberish. Let the nonsense stop.
http://www.auc.org.uk