Originally Posted by chapeau

LOL

Pucci Galore re US sales tax. When you buy your ipod in the States, you will usually get whacked an extra charge which is the government's take. You can look at it two ways.

1) It's an additional hidden charge.
2) It separates and therefore highlights the amount the government takes for apparently no benefit to the customer.

Ask the person who sells you the ipod, and they likely will say "I don't charge sales tax, I just collect it". Sounds like they have a good point. I think the way the UK system works, where the 17.5% is included in the total, is a larger deception foisted on the purchaser by the government who legislates to hide the fact they are taking 17.5%. The UK government is hiding their take, and using the law to do so.

If the fuel surcharge that BA (and most of the more inefficient airlines) was transparently linked to the price ot Jet A fuel then it might be acceptable to itemise this as an additional item. This is what UPS and FedEx so, they will state in advance what their fuel surcharges will be given the average price of Jet A or Diesel in the weeks preceding.

If BA was to publish this then I would accept it being separated, but they don't. Now we have a situation where they are being investigated for colluding to manipulate this fuel surcharge - and I am sure if this is true, it would not be manipulated to the low side.