solonphotos

I received an email today offering a round-trip from my local airport to Frankfort, Germany on UAL - in Sept. or November - for $323 roundtrip.

Wow!, I said. I went to book the trip - and I found that the rate is increased by $433 in "Taxes and Fees" to a final price of $756 - not such a bargain after all.

What is included in the $433 for "taxes and fees?"

HNLbasedFlyer

$433 in taxes and fees does not sound right, for instance a ticket SFO-FRA in July only has $64.30 in taxes/fees when I looked today.

But, in answer to your question:

International travel (including Puerto Rico and the U.S. Virgin Islands)

Fare includes U.S. excise tax, and carrier-imposed fuel surcharges (YQ) of up to 250.00 USD per direction of travel may apply. For travel to some countries, additional airport, transportation, embarkation, security and passenger service taxes/surcharges may also apply depending on destination. Fare does not include the following taxes, fees and surcharges:


Airport passenger facility charges (PFCs) of up to 19.50 USD roundtrip
September 11th Security Fee of 2.50 USD per enplanement at a U.S. airport
Other government taxes and fees (including U.S. government excise tax) of up to 140.00 USD based on destination; total may vary slightly based upon currency exchange rate at time of purchase
Taxes and fees are subject to change without notice and at the discretion of each country’s government

SEA1K4EVR

US taxes, airport taxes, departure taxes (sometimes), and most significantly, a fuel surcharge which is very pricey. You can see how much the taxes are in the ticket details. Fuel surcharges are "YQ".

The government has proposed some new rules for airlines and included among them is that airlines would have to show fares in advertising and during the booking process that include all taxes and fees. I think it's a great rule and I hope it is implemented. The way they do it now is stupid.

unavaca

$433 sounds about right. SFO-FRA has a $320 YQ, leaving $110 in fees which is about right.

In this specific example, it's $423 in taxes.

WineCountryUA

Could the $323 have been the oneway price? Very common for UA & other airlines to headline the OW procing.

2*$323 + $110 for taxes & fees would seem more inline with previous sales.

ORDnHKG

+1

UA and other airlines often advertised fare sale that is a one way fare. And it often said it is the one way price but base on roundtrip purchase. I have never seen they actually advertised a round trip fare in the US, in other countries like Asia may have something like that though.

solonphotos

That's what I thought too , but ...

No - it is advertised as a ROUND TRIP - for $323 ---

(Travelocity)

You are currently watching the following destination(s):
Cedar Rapids (CID) to Frankfurt (FRA)

.Round-Trip
Price: USD .
323.00+.

United
offers connecting service
Advance Purchase:.
14 days..


But - the final price was about $750.... with Taxes and Fees.

What an come-on.

emcampbe

Not really defending UA (or the industry) on their typical advertising of one way fares requiring round-trip purchase, or UA's (and the industry's) advertising of fares which don't include any taxes/fees, particularly the fuel surcharge. However, this sounds like a Travelocity marketing thing. Sounds like it was their email out.

Travelocity has the distinction from what I've seen, for being one of the few travel agency sites that doesn't show the all-in price initially. They show the base fare in large, and in smaller type + $x.xx in taxes/fees = $xxx.xx. This annoys me to no end. At least Orbitz, Expedia, etc., when you do a search, includes the all in price. That's also more than I can say for UA's own site, currently. Liked it much better a few months ago when .bomb also showed the all in price on the first results page.

sbm12

It it most certainly the YQ "fee" that is not included in the base price. Some folks have gotten creative and learned how to "trick" the fare and "dump" the YQ off the ticket price but that's not normal. The fact that the airlines can charge so much in a surcharge that is just part of them hiding the fare and not get in trouble for deceptive advertising is rather sad. But it is the way the industry works today.

Also worth noting is that the YQ isn't discounted when there are % off sales and things like that. It basically allows the airlines to screw over their customers, including those with nice corporate contracts, and there isn't much we can do about it.

One of the recent DoT proposals for consumer rights was to better enforce the "all-in" advertising requirement. I really hope that one gets implemented.

WineCountryUA

So it was Travelocity and not UA you received the announcement from.

I still go back to it was $323 OW and travelocity made an error in reporting.

Could you provide a set of dates? Too see what fares have been filed for the dates you tested.

Spotted check dates in AUg, Sept & Oct and saw no YQ fee for CID-FRA or SFO-FRA

camachinist

Any of this look familiar?

solonphotos

So - the obvious question is:

What are YQYR Charges for - or based on ??

unavaca

In this case, it's all YQ charges. YQ is a surcharge imposed by the airline. It's officially a "fuel surcharge," but it's really just another fee. It's based on how much UA feels like charging for it.

It's definitely not distance based. SFO-FRA is $320 whereas SFO-SYD is $180.

solonphotos

So, in my case, they advertised a $323 round-trip price - and then tacked on a $420 "fee."

If I ran ads for my business like that - I would be in court or in jail.

It's time for honesty and accuracy in advertised air fares.

sbm12

Fare (A1): UA SFOFRA SLXNC95N fare (rules) , psgr type ADT $233.00
Fare (A2): UA FRASFO SLXNC95N fare (rules) , psgr type ADT $233.00
Tax: US International Departure Tax $16.10
Tax: US September 11th Security Fee $2.50
Tax: US Passenger Facility Charge $4.50
Tax: UA YQ surcharge $320.00
Tax: USDA APHIS Fee $5.00
Tax: US Immigration Fee $7.00
Tax: US Customs Fee $5.50
Tax: German Airport Security Tax €6.95
Tax: German Passenger Service Charge €25.20
Tax: US International Arrival Tax $16.10

10/29-11/4.

I'm guessing if I tried to find a lower fare I probably could but it will still have the YQ in it.