Originally Posted by
akdancer
Thanks for checking this. I didn't mean that the CBP fees were directly connect to pre-clearance. Whether you clear abroad or at US arrival, you pay the same. What interested me was that the CBP fee, around $38 all-in, was fairly high IMO. I hadn't checked it in years. And the departure fees at NAU, as you list them, certainly give the airport enough revenue that they could pay some of the CBP pre-clearance operation. "Tax the traveler" is a commonly-found practice.
Not sure what you mean by CBP fees around $38.
So I did take a look at what the Bahamas would charge someone traveling to Canada (no pre-clearance, I assume?). Turns out the Bahamian fees are exactly the same as shown above for AS for a trip to the US. Air Canada doesn't show any fees payable to the Canadian government, but they seem to be hidden in the "
Surcharges" link).
In any case, it seems Pre-Clearance is not costing the US traveler anything extra when buying an AS ticket.