Re: Ryan Air US flights (BBC Report)

On 4 Nov, 13:54, Roland Perry <rol...@xxxxxxxxxxx> wrote:
In message
<90a2dd25-62f8-4f7f-bc5f-9c07452f8...@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>, at
00:27:17 on Tue, 4 Nov 2008, MIG <googles...@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx> remarked:





The local paper here in the USA had the price at roughly USD13 one way
[the price wasn't a round number, or something reasonable like 12.99
or 12.95, so I suspect it was a straight conversion from the UK
price].   Taxes will add about USD25 one way, so the lowest roundtrip
fare is probably closer to USD 75.

The *government* tax for the UK-USA leg is £40 (so about $65) plus
whatever the US and UK airports will charge. Ryanair then charge for
checkin, using a credit card, baggage etc. so that the *cost* of a UK
domestic return flight is well over $100, even if the "fare" was
originally 0.01p.

I can't see anyone paying less than $250 round trip.

I don't understand how they've managed to convince people that part of
the price they charge customers isn't really part of the price, in a
way that no other industry can.  Nowadays even VAT is only separated
in cases where the customer might not need to pay it.

The insurance industry has "insurance premium tax".

The courier industry has had "fuel surcharges".

The events industry (cinemas, pop concerts etc) have "credit card/online
booking fees"

The railway industry has "booking/pickup" fees for some Advance Purchase
fares.


Fair enough, there are some other examples, but they are certainly Bad
Things and not to be encouraged. Airlines seem to be particularly
good at charing extras that are vastly more expensive than the
advertised price of the service.


The rot with airline fares started with the "tax" element.

There are almost 2,000 in the wild, with a sample available here:

http://www.iata.org/ps/financial_services/tax-list.htm

Two things have happened to extend extra charges from 'pure' taxes:

Firstly, other airport charges (real, such as customs/immigration/
security fees; or imagined, such as wheelchair surcharge) have been
added to the "tax and other charges".

Secondly, various airlines charge extra fees for:

using a credit card
checking in at a desk
having checked baggage
access to business lounge
priority boarding and of course...
fuel surcharge.

Businesses have overheads, including taxes etc, and they pass them on
to customers.

Airline taxes vary a lot depending on destination, which is a reasonable
excuse for breaking it out.

Again, fearing the airline model extending to railways, will we get a
1p fare from London to Manchester plus £75 track access charge, £30
local rates for the stations etc etc?

Other than the existing fees for online purchases, we may get a charge
for:

reserving a seat
not using on e-ticket (when they are rolled out)
certain premium services (not so much a Pullman Supplement, as a Javelin
    supplement).


These things are sort of optional though. The airlines are
particularly good at separating parts of the fare that cannot be
avoided from the advertised price. All transport providers use fuel,
for example, and all of them pay taxes for the privilege of being
allowed to use premises where they can pick up our custom. We can't
use non-fuel vehicles or avoid stations and airports.

A newsagent at a busy London station probably pays higher rates for a
good pitch, so they charge 70p for a packet of crisps; they don't
advertise "crisps 10p" and then deduct 60p local authority rates when
returning your change.
.

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