tcook052

http://www.princegeorgecitizen.com/n...ghts-1.2050108

An Air Canada executive is urging voters to make federal government taxes on airline flights an election issue.

While giving a presentation Thursday at a Prince George Chamber of Commerce luncheon, Kevin Howlett, the airline's senior vice president for regional markets, showed a PowerPoint slide comparing the price of two airline tickets - one for a roundtrip ticket from Vancouver to Phoenix, the other for the same destination but starting in Seattle.

The cost of the flight starting in Vancouver was $580.28 CDN, while the cost of the fllight beginning in Seattle was $278.60 USD, which worked out to $317.60 CDN.

Howlett blamed the difference on a "prohibitive tax structure" north of the border.

why fly

maybe that same executive should chat about Fuel Surcharge and scamcharges.

drvannostren

Yep, let's hear about the fuel surcharges since Oil has been <$50 for months.

How about the airport improvement fees? We've had those for almost 20 years now, they weren't supposed to be permanent.

I still don't understand this public/private partnership thing for something that is operated for profit.

Flames was a new arena, go for it. Public funding? Why? What do the fans get out of it? The chance to go to the building...at a price. Then all the people who never use it, just keep paying for it. Meanwhile the owner/operator of the building continually makes money hand over fist and returns what to the city exactly? The benefit of having a team? Great.

Same principal with the airport. Yes, I use the airport, but I pay to use it by paying the airlines. The people who run YVR make money from all the airlines, rent from the vendors and more. So why is it incumbent upon me to pay for construction costs to improve it? I'm in there every couple of weeks, what do I care if the place LOOKS like crap, as long as it runs, that's what concerns me. Wanna make a facelift for tourists, great, pay for it yourself.

Airline tickets in Canada are like Gas, I'm ok with paying high taxes when it goes to more pressing items. But scams like fuel surcharge, AIF then add on the tax as well, drive the prices through the roof.

KenHamer

Wirelessly posted (Mozilla/5.0 (BlackBerry; U; BlackBerry 9780; en-US) AppleWebKit/534.8+ (KHTML, like Gecko) Version/6.0.0.666 Mobile Safari/534.8+)

Taxes that are often a small fraction of Carrier Admin Surcharges.

guessaaa

Yes, let's compare a transborder flight with a domestic flight.

cooleddie

Taxes are high but the airports in US are really crappy.

djjaguar64

He probably forgot that slide in his deck on purpose!

^^^

bizorbetter

The presenter FX'd 278.60 USD to 317.60 CAD?? loses credibility instantly ......closer to 368 CAD......typical AC IMO

tcook052

True as the FX rate used in the presentation would be 1.14 and it hasn't been there for a while.

Ace Cdn

It is not a valid comparison. When you leave from Vancouver there is the US agriculture fee, inspection fee and all the other fees which add about $100 or more to the ticket. There is no such taxes when leaving from Seattle.

YOWgary

To be fair, it's hard to tell whether that's the presenter or the reporter who screwed up the exchange.

ChrisA330

The information is old as all of the figures came from a February 2015 submission to the review of the Canada Transportation Act.

http://www.aircanada.com/en/about/me...ic_enabler.pdf

RCyyz

It's not a Fuel Surcharge; it's a tax. This whole thing is the government's fault.

tcook052

The article does say the numbers were in Howlett's powerpoint presentation with the assumption being the converted amount was indicated on the slides.

heraclitus

Hehehe... the best defense is a good offense!