kaneporta1

So, I was looking for flights in Easter, YUL-LHR-YUL or for my parents to come visit, LHR-YUL-LHR. What I notices is, that for the same dates, taxes for YUL-LHR-YUL are $100 more expensive than the other way round. Since BA does not provide a breakdown and since it should be the same, anyone here that can help me with this?

I called BA reservations and the person on the other end of the line was very rude and told me, the taxes are what they are, BA does not provide a breakdown and there is no one that can help me. "It's because different departure cities have different taxes."

From the Air Canada website this is the breakdown that I got:

Taxes, Fees and Charges
Canada Airport Improvement Fee SQ 25.00
Air Travellers Security Charge (ATSC) CA 25.91
Canada Quebec Sales Tax (QST #1000-043-172 TQ1991) XQ 1.97
U.K. Passenger Service Charge UB 48.44
Canada Goods and Services Tax (GST/HST #10009-2287 RT0001) XG 1.25
U.K. Air Passenger Duty GB 189.79

So why should there be a $100 difference considering that even with the BA fuel surcharge, it should be the same for each sector, independent on where the journey starts.

If anyone is willing to try replicating the itineraries, I looked for flights departing April 15th and returning April 25th in Club World.

Thanks in advance for your input.

Gshumway

UK Airport tax. whatever it is called.

Prospero

Use ITA's website - it provides a detailed breakdown of all the associated taxes, fees and surcharges. http://www.itasoftware.com/

This shows the taxes and fees are broadly similar albeit the YQ charges vary slightly probably due to the way the currency exchange is calculated.

Take another look at the base fare - discounted economy fares (selling class being equal) do tend to vary depending on the city of origin/country of booking

BOH

What a laugh. One wonders how many more different things they will think of next to add on surcharges. I'm curious as to why there seems to be two YQ surcharges, one high and one a lower amount?

Prospero

I know the number of fees/charges is getting silly. The smaller of the two YQ fees is BA's Insurance and Security Surcharge.

kaneporta1

Prospero,

Thank you very much for the reply and the link!

I got the breakdown for the taxes and fees for J class flight and you can see below that the fuel surcharge for both itineraries, is way higher than what is "advertised" in the BA website:

YUL-LHR-YUL

Fare 1: Carrier BA IRCNA4 YMQ to LON (rules)
Passenger type ADT, round trip fare, booking code I
Covers YUL-LHR (Business) $1,594.50
Fare 2: Carrier BA IRCNA4 LON to YMQ (rules)
Passenger type ADT, round trip fare, booking code I
Covers LHR-YUL (Business) $1,594.50
BA YQ surcharge (YQ) $394.60
BA YQ surcharge (YQ) $15.80
Montreal Trudeau Airport Improvement Fee (SQ) $24.50
Canadian Goods and Services Tax (XG) $1.20
Quebec Sales Tax (XQ) $1.90
Canadian Air Travelers Security Charge (CA) $25.40
United Kingdom Air Passengers Duty (GB) $186.90
United Kingdom Passenger Service Charge (UB) $47.70

LHR-YUL-LHR

Fare 1: Carrier BA IHAPGB LON to YMQ (rules)
Passenger type ADT, round trip fare, booking code I
Covers LHR-YUL (Business) $1,745.83
Fare 2: Carrier BA IHAPGB YMQ to LON (rules)
Passenger type ADT, round trip fare, booking code I
Covers YUL-LHR (Business) $1,745.83
BA YQ surcharge (YQ) $297.40
BA YQ surcharge (YQ) $15.60
United Kingdom Air Passengers Duty (GB) $186.90
United Kingdom Passenger Service Charge (UB) $47.70
Montreal Trudeau Airport Improvement Fee (SQ) $24.50
Canadian Goods and Services Tax (XG) $1.20
Quebec Sales Tax (XQ) $1.90
Canadian Air Travelers Security Charge (CA) $25.40

From ba.com:

YUL-LHR should be $157 (x2)
LHR-YUL should be 78 GBP (x2)

http://www.britishairways.com/travel...e/public/en_ca

Are we being ripped off???

mdj1

Of course we are, its the biggest con going, but you can always walk.

jbalmuth

I'm sure that you've already noticed on ITA that the YQ when originating from YYZ and NYC are both $100 cheaper than originating YUL; it does look like the YUL originating passengers are being ripped off....but did you also happen to notice how much cheaper the BA flights are from NYC for your Apr 15 - 25 dates?

At first blush, all JFK - LHR return flights appear to be pricing at C$800+ cheaper than from YUL (all taxes included). For that amount of savings, I'd be tempted to add a NYC stopover, especially as I mightily prefer the 744 Upper Deck experience (unfortunately not available from YUL).

Prospero

Looking at today's foreign exchange rates, I'd certainly say North American customers are being disadvantaged at the moment, as the fuel surcharge rates were locked at a time when Sterling was much stronger than it is today.

kaneporta1

That is another matter. But the fact is, that BA is charging around $410 when they should be charging around $320 ex YUL and $250 instead of around $315 ex LHR.

I still think we're getting ripped off...

HIDDY

Probably but there's not a lot you can do about it apart from use another airline. Which, you said you were going to do last year after a similar discussion.

kaneporta1

Which I did!

But having to fly from Montreal to London quite often I only have 2 direct options, AC and BA. I'm not going to rule out 50% of my options, so I will always check BA.

Ultimately being asked to pay more than I should annoys me, as well as the fact that BA seems to get away with it. I've already contacted BA so I'm at least trying to do something about this. Maybe I'll get nowhere. Maybe many people will benefit from this...

The fact is, the numbers, with the current information I have, don't add up and I'm just trying to get a reasonable explanation.

HIDDY

It's really only relevant to redemption bookings.

The final price of a revenue ticket would work out the same as they would just increase the base fare if they reduced the taxes/charges.

soco

Probably posted elsewhere but making bookings now, I can click an [i] and get a breakdown of BA (YQ, Insurance Surcharge) vs. non-BA charges (APD, Passenger Service Charge etc). More detailed and actually specific to my flight, compared to what was there previously.

kaneporta1

I just noticed this too! Coincidence or my emails and calls to BA have been answered?
Still, a bit of transparency is always good!