Originally Posted by respectable_man
TC: I applaud the move by AC to include any surcharge in the base price of their ticket.
Which is domestic and transborder only, so far.
On the question of advertizing and level playing field: these are local regulations, i.e. AC must follow the advertizing laws of Australia for any ad placed in Australia. Hence, the field is perfectly level.
Yes, it's level now as all airlines flying international ex Australia are not required by local law to include fuel surcharges in base price; that law, as others have mentioned, is only for domestic Australia tickets. It would become uneven were AC to lump everything into the base as their tickets would look at a glance disproportionately higher than the competition.
It may well be that if enough countries required it for international departures that the airlines would be forced to adopt a network-wide policy of including any fuel surcharge in the base fare rather than have different pricing rules for different destinations. However, that day may be a way off yet.