Originally Posted by
bedelman
I recently redeemed an award ticket on a non-alliance carrier (perhaps no need to give the name as this point) and was charged a substantial fuel surcharge. This fuel surcharge was lumped together in the "taxes" line along with various payments that were imposed by governments and airports, but of course the fuel surcharge is not required by any government, airport, or other such authority.
I believe it to be unlawful for a carrier to label a fee, that it alone elects to charge, as a "tax." (Whether or not fuel surcharges should be permitted is another matter.) I am trying to find a basis in law or regulation for this view. I began at
http://airconsumer.dot.gov/ , the US Department of Transportation's Aviation Consumer Protection and Enforcement division. They have multiple recent rulings and enforcement actions as to full-fare advertising (must disclose all fees and surcharges at the outset) but nothing on this specific subject. Anyone have ideas here?
Can you detail what exactly you mean by the "'taxes' line"? (Was this on the receipt? Was there a breakdown of what's a tax and what's an unrequired surcharge that was disclosed somewhere in the process? Did it just say "Taxes" or did it say "Surcharges, Fees and Taxes" or something like that?) I'm asking this because, as an initial matter, I wonder if the question whether it may be called a "tax" is a red herring if it's not really being called a "tax." But you raise a very interesting question, and I don't have any ideas on the specific subject.
As a side note, I wonder if the best argument to attack the YQ is on the basis of it being labeled a "tax." It seems the better argument is some consumer protection claim on the basis of YQ not being a fuel surcharge at all because there's no nexus between the surcharge and the price of fuel, but rather, it's a hidden cost.