As usual, you guys are right! However, the 'who cares' bit gets old - the original poster was simply pointing out that there is no ryhme nor reason to rationales for charges. As another example, that 3% federal tax that is ACTUALLY APPLIED TO OTHER TAXES on your phone bill dates from an 1898 tax passed during the Spanish American War, and is only now being phased out over 100 years later. I wonder if there's another reason the airlines are leaving the extra cost as a fuel surcharge - perhaps to avoid unpleasantness from customers when they hike something else to make up the difference.

A quick check of my my last in-home phone bill (I have long distance through a different carrier) shows taxes of 52.6% due to all of the unvoted taxes and surcharges slammed onto the phone bill. But 'who cares' if you just price the total bill at the end of the month to compare to some other projected bill with a different carrier?? Is anyone else sick to death of getting taxed and surcharged to death on money on which we have already paid steep taxes by entities which are apparently accountable to no one and upon which charges no one can vote?

Say I take $100 of income which has been taxed federally and at state level at a rate around 41%. That leaves $59 to pay my phone bill of $31.29, of which $20.50 is for phone services and the rest for taxes. Now I have left $27.71 - if I dare spend all of it locally ($25.89 on actual item), I get whacked with another 7% sales tax. Total purchasing power of that $100 in income: $25.89 + $20.50 = $46.39. My effective tax rate on that $100 is 53.61%.

I think I understand why the original poster was aggravated by this BS fuel surcharge, because the airlines can't muster the courage to call it what it actually is - a revenue enhancer.