The price of crude is up a bit this week but still low compared to a few years ago. And yet, fuel surcharges haven't decreased. If anything, they've gone up.



I think at this point we all know the price of airline tickets isn't going to come down. But the real question is, will government or regulatory bodies ever step in to put an end to the practice of airlines separating out this "surcharge" and basically implying that it's a tax, rather than being forced to build it into the fare. Or, for that matter, prohibiting them from charging YQ on award tickets.

To me, this is analogous to the "system access fee" that telecoms used to charge consumers, until they got hit with class action lawsuits.

Charging prices based on what the market will bear is one thing. Couching fares as taxes is quite another. This is exactly the sort of shady practice that legislation or legal action ought to take on.