Scam is a pretty strong word, and it is most definitely not a scam, but it does help to understand how the pricing works.

In fact, I'd argue that it's the airlines that are perpetrating the biggest scams ... while it is all the same to the consumer now, they are primarily hiding most of the fare component in the fuel surcharge because they don't have to charge taxes or pay travel agent commissions on those surcharges--they only pay on the base fare component. Fortunately, the DOT has come down and said that airlines must adjust fuel surcharge pricing to more accurately reflect the fuel cost component only, so we should see some of those costs make it back into the base fare.