Originally Posted by
CalFlyer
Clearly the surcharges have nothing to do with fuel prices anymore.
Very true. I've posted this in another thread but fuel surcharges have nothing with fuel to do, it is all about getting extra revenue on your ticket. Have a look at some of the arguments below.
Why fuel surcharges are bogus- Airlines collect different amounts of money when codesharing. For example flying in business FRA-DEL AI charges 126 in YQ on their own plane. If you book the exact same flight as a LH codeshare, LH wants 182 in fuel surcharge. How can LH [logically] ask for almost 50% higher fuel surcharge than the operating carrier?
- Airlines collect money from made up charges. For example LH collects a fuel surcharge when you are travelling with a LH-ticket on a train! LH wants a 43 fuel surcharge for a 1 hour train ride (eg. ZWS-FRA) booked with LH-code to pay for the train's fuel on top of the fare charged for that segment. LHs YQ is higher than what the train operator is charging for their tickets (spar-preis).
- Airlines adjust the fuel surcharge based on the fare. A roundtrip HEL-FRA-HEL in Y-class with LH costs 86 in fuel surcharges, the exact same flights in L-class cost 38 in fuel surcharges. So promotion tickets have a lower fuel surcharge. Guess which one they use for calculation when you buy an award ticket
- Fuel surcharges are market based. A round-trip ticket FRA-NYC-FRA costs 284 on LH. But if you fly the reverse you pay 388 in fuel surcharge. (though I guess here the airline could argue that fuel price depends on where they fill up the plane)
- As is evident in this thread, YQ does not follow fuel price.
A few more incentives why airlines prefer to keep using fuel surcharges- The airline gets cash revenue also from bonus tickets
- When a TA or savvy FTer is comparing prices the lowest base fares are shown first, making it more probable that the person will look for those fares.
- You get full surcharge also from discounted fares such as infant with seat and children.
- You can make a big campaign or corporate deal saying "all our prices 50% off". Sure, but you will still collect the fuel surcharge in full meaning the end price is not 50% off.
- Apparently fuel surcharges are easier to adjust for the airline than changing the base fares.
- It looks better for the airline when quoting prices to the average passenger "We only want 99 for this ticket but the taxes and fees are 300"