Beware of the great airline tax rip-off
Airlines are playing a tax game and you, the passenger, aren’t being treated fairly.
The way the various government entities have added to taxation has increased the tax burden on air travelers significantly since 9/11. Airlines (and therefore passengers) are fair game.
It’s easy to collect from them, and now everyone has gotten into the game from cities (these are called PFCs or Passenger Facilities Charges) to agricultural inspection, to eco taxes to security, to customs to outright taxes.
Technically, according to something called the Chicago Convention, there are not supposed to be taxes. But that has never been challenged.
However the inconsistent application of taxes means that you never quite know if you should be paying the tax or not. Here are some examples.
1. A Free ticket from LAX to Cancun and onwards to Seattle. Delta charges more than twice that of Alaska:
2. On a request from Seattle to London taxation charges on the airlines via Orbitz ranged from a low of 6 percent (multiple carriers nonstop flights) to 192 percent (American with a one stop flight) of base fare.
So next time you fly – check up on the actual correct tax and also shop around. That may not be the right rate.
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Especially for international travel, airlines have been shifting their fare increases from the actual base fare to one of the taxes, YQ. That way they can say their “fare” is still competitive. The YQ “tax” is not actually a government imposed tax but an airline surcharge. Typically, the YQ “tax” includes a security surcharge and/or a fuel surcharge. Airlines are passing on the costs of airport security that are levied against them by governments and airports. They also do the same for fuel. We recently sold a business class itinerary that was BA outbound and NW returning. By validating the ticket on NW the traveler saved about $500.00 as opposed to validating on BA because of the difference in the YQ “tax” that each airline charged.