TIMOS

I recently bought 2 Economy W fares to be able to use my GPU's. Here are the fare/taxes breakdowns:

LAX-GIG-LAX (W fare)

1 Adults (age 18 to 64) $1,808.00
Taxes/Fees

U.S. Customs User Fee $5.50
U.S. APHIS User Fee $5.00
U.S. Federal Transportation Tax $33.40
U.S. Immigration User Fee $7.00
U.S. Passenger Facility Charge $10.50
September 11th Security Fee $7.50
Brazil Embarkation Tax $36.00
TOTAL $1912.90

LAX-SYD-LAX

1 Adults (age 18 to 64) $1,593.00
Taxes/Fees

U.S. Customs User Fee $5.50
U.S. APHIS User Fee $5.00
U.S. Federal Transportation Tax $33.40
U.S. Immigration User Fee $7.00
Australia Passenger Service Charge $51.00
Australia Passenger Movement Charge $47.00
International Surcharge $680.00
U.S. Passenger Facility Charge $4.50
September 11th Security Fee $2.50

TOTAL $2428.90

I called UA and asked what the $680 international surcharge was for the SYD flight - they said it's a fuel surcharge.

Both the Rio and Sydney flights are about a 14 hour flight (roughly). Why does the SYD flight have a $680 fuel charge and the Rio flight $0.

Both flights are on all UA metal.

787fan

i'm no law expert but perhaps due to laws at each destination/jurisdiction governing how fares may be advertised (e.g. must be bundled vs. base fare only) ?

channa

I believe fuel surcharges are not allowed by Brazillian law, so they roll it into the fare.

Brazil has a few consumer-friendly regulations. Another is that they regulate baggage limits, which I believe is 2 free bags minimum.

golfingboy

Brazil law "forbids" airlines to create a separate line for fuel surcharges.

Airlines create a separate item line for fuel surcharge primarily for tax reasons, but removing the fuel surcharge will not reduce your airfare, they will just build it in the base airfare instead and pay more business tax.

SEA1K4EVR

Tax reasons? I don't think so. Deception is sole reason they do it... the US govt now requires airlines to show the full price on their own websites so it's now less deceiving than it used to be. But when UA publishes its fares to 3rd parties the fuel surcharges are not included in the base fare.

sbm12

They still have to pay the 7.5% excise tax on the YQ.

escapefromphl

Could this have anything to do with the Australian carbon tax?

SEA1K4EVR

No.

trupper999

Why don't they just do it for every fair? I mean, incorporate it in price. Is there a benefit into separating that?

escapefromphl

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-asia-18669376

But they will pass on the cost to us. Or does this only apply to Quantas?

SEA1K4EVR

Because that would be too consumer friendly..the whole reason fuel surcharges were introduced in the first place were to lure people in with a low fare and then slap the surcharge on right at the end along with all of the taxes. All about deception and psychology.

channa

Yeah, but now that fares have to be quoted as all-in from the start, what's the benefit?

SEA1K4EVR

I agree.. I see no benefit yet they still do it. You can't even get the full fare including surcharges on ExpertFlyer.. the airlines lobbied the govt to allow them to continue to publish fares without taxes/YQ to 3rd parties.

mduell

Two big motivations for fuel surcharges:
1) Avoiding the 7.5% excise tax - more money for them.
2) Easier/faster to change when fuel prices are volatile. Just update one YQ charge rather than refiling thousands of fares per city pair. I believe there's a GDS capacity issue here the makes the latter untenable.

There's no marketing advantage since the fare search engines will all include the taxes and fees from the start, and the new DOT advertising rules require the fuel surcharge to be included.

Sounds like an ExpertFlyer issue... ITA Software has no problem displaying the all-in fare from the beginning.

freezefactor

Some airlines charge YQ on award tickets (not UA), which makes international awards more expensive. Maybe they also get some more revenue from "complimentary" tickets from Amex Plat.?