Originally Posted by
trf0412
I
However, when I go to the awards booking page it comes up with around €100 of taxes EACH WAY!! For example, to Bergen, Norway, for a long weekend, 1-5 May I would need to pay €173 in taxes! If I just try to book the flight as a non-award booking on the KLM website, it's £137 inclusive of tax!
I think I found the fare you're speaking about. Here is the break-up of the price:
Fare (A1): KL LONBGO VPROGB fare (rules) £12.00
Fare (A2): KL BGOLON VPROGB fare (rules) £12.00
Tax: United Kingdom Air Passengers Duty £10.00
Tax: United Kingdom Passenger Service Charge £21.20
Tax: The Netherlands Passenger Service Charge €12.64
Tax: The Netherlands Noise Isolation Charge €4.00
Tax: The Netherlands Security Service Charge €14.50
Tax: KL YR surcharge £40.00
Tax: Norway Passenger Charge NOK 119
Basically, it's a KL ticket of 2x12 pounds, 31.20 pounds of UK tax, a little over 40 euros in Dutch tax, and 119 NOK in norwegian taxes. Plus,
40 pounds in "YR surcharge". These are not taxe, they are fare increase masqueraded as tax. It used to be fuel surcharge, back when fuel was high. Now, it's more a "FA salary surcharge" or maybe a "utility bill surcharge" or a "let's pay some dividends surcharge". It's, of course, not imposed by any governement, it's just the airline misleading you in thinking it's a tax.
The level of that surcharge vary. On this promotional ticket, you'll pay 40 pounds. On the same itinerary, different date, same cabin, you'll pay 60 pounds. It's the full price of the "YR surcharge". Given the low level of competition for award travel, they feel they can have you pay the whole YR surcharge. On a competitive paid ticket, they lift part of this "tax" (another proof it's absolutely not a tax, but just a mechanism to adjust the fare).
That's why you can end up with an award ticket (where the fare part is free, and the arbitrary surcharge part is on your charge) costing
more than a paid ticket.
How is this possible? I thought taxes were set by governments
That's certainly what the airline want its customers to think. It's not, it's a mix of tax and "additional fare". I am sure they must laugh everyday at their customers knowing that some of them think "taxes" are something the poor airline is subject to.
Or is KLM simply adding the cost of the flight as a surcharge, and in fact I wouldn't be getting anything for free?
Yes you won't. Many people discover that slowly, when confronted to the problem. It's something we frequent fliers know since day one, and the airline management doesn't see any problem with that.