How do airlines/airports work out airport charges/tax, they never seem to be the same?
Answers:
It depends upon the airline and you can request a breakdown of them.. however to give you some idea taxes and charges covers things from departure tax levied by the government through to fuel charges (introduced by most airlines to cover the rising cost of fuel) it can also include a late booking fee - normally to cover the oh so expensive cost of getting a rep to hand write your ticket at the airport (this can be up to about £15 if you are leaving the UK) most companies although they state they offer a breakdown of the fees lump them under other (charter companies are really bad for doing this) Easyjet seem to keep there fees as low as they can however BA has the best explanation on their website (see link) basically a lot of it is to do with being able to advertise low fares with the little asterisk that states does not include taxes and charges and then add another £30 on after!
Mainly right, but there is no "late booking" charge. I think you may mean a charge that is sometimes levied if you have to pick up a paper ticket at an airport, the "XP" charge. In the UK, there is only one tax (and by tax I mean a levy or cost imposed by a properly elected Government), that is the GB tax which may be £10, 20 or £40 depending on if you are going long haul, short haul, sitting up front with the driver or down the back, where I sit, in cattle class. All the rest of the charges are for various costs. UB tax is for the privilege of being able to use the airport, YR tax is that great one - Security. Security is a neat expression used by airlines as a sort of shut up for errant passengers: "Why have you..?" - Er, sorry, security. "What have you.?" Er, sorry, mate, you know Security ..and so on. YQ tax is real wheeze. That's for the petrol. Yup, that's right - the petrol. Airlines have to buy their petrol "overseas" - like you can easily dig up the stuff for your car from your back garden. Overseas, incidently, even includes places like the middle east who are awash with the stuff, but there you go. As the previous answer correctly states, airlines want to keep the air fares low, so what they do is just ratchet up the fuel surcharges and take out of the fare calculation anything and everything they can, soon they will find a few new things to take out, like a special charge for breathing oxygen at 30,000 feet..
I would add that past masters of the noble art of knocking bits out of the fare and sticking them in as, (mumble, mumble) taxes and charges is of course - Yes, step forward Uncle Sam!
They can multiply and add BUT can't divide nor subtract
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