I just got the final quote for the taxes on my DONE4 issued by CX in Sri Lanka.

The Gross price is 591,200LKR, which is US$5435. The taxes and charges are another 117100LKR, or US$1076! This is a tad under 20% extra! I am really shocked by this.

Here is my routing- taken from the word.doc from CX CMB:

CMB CX x/HKG CX JFK AA SFO AA X/DFW AA DCA AA X/DFW AA YUL BA X/LHR BA IST BA X/LHR BA DXB BA DXB BA LHR CX X/HKG CX MEL // ADL QF PER QF BNE QF MEL // SYD QF BOM // DEL CX HKG CX CMB

Just thought I'd let you all know of the huge tax take (not that we flyers aren't well aware of it

It would be worth checking theyt've got the LHR taxes right for the transits - if not then it is nearly US$200 EACH TIME you leave LHR in F or J now!

I'm surprised that you are shocked by it, there have been several threads on FT about taxes and an estimate of USD 1000 for a DONE4, so it should have been exactly what you expected. The UK tax taking effect in 2007 does add significantly, as pointed out by christep, but I think you only have one exit from the UK (otherwise it would have been higher). Avoiding LHR does save almost USD 200, but costs lots of mileage and routing. Most of the "taxes" are actually surcharges, both fuel (by the airline) and facility usage (by the airport). These are flat rate, not a percentage (so become a higher percentage the cheaper the ticket is). But 20% tax is nothing these days, I've had several tickets in the past year with 100% tax (some countries have high inspection fees). And of course the LCC tickets in europe for "1 euro" wind up costing 50 euros of "tax".

Now you know why there has been so much discussion about AA issued tickets (AA collects less fuel surcharge than the other OW airlines).

I was expecting that there would be 500-600 in taxes, not almost 1100! I don't know which of the many codes is the LHR charge... here is the list:

TAXES LKR1500LK/1600CA/1400SQ/100XG/200XQ/800XY/600YC/1400AY/3400US/600XA/500XF/900AE/1700TR/5500UB/800WG/3300AU/200QK/1800QR/2800WY/600WO/8500GB/31100YQ/41000YR/3400HK/3400Q

TOTAL LKR 117,100

Have they overcharged me on the LHR slug?

At a quick look they've hit you for the full whack of fuel taxes (the YQ+YR is 70% of the total taxes). The UK taxes are GB and UB and look about right. YR is the CX surcharges (US$59.70 long haul, $14.50 for short). YQ is (I think) the AA surcharges mandated in the fare rules (possibly the BA ones as well).

Thanks for your quick reply!

Sadly, the fuel surcharge is expected now days... I can't see why it isn't just added to the ticket!

At least they seem to have charged me correctly, though being a CX office, they are generally spot on.

Taxes. May not be 100% accurate, but gives a guide
QF Country specific taxes - Countries A to G
QF Country specific taxes - Countries H to Z

Rather than have CX in CMB do the ticket, you will be able to cut a fair bit on "taxes" ( probably ) by having AA in CMB do the ticket. Recent comparison when booking one was a few hundred $

Dave

A DONE4 I purchase froms CX CMB in August 2005 (That long ago ) cost:Back then fuel surcharges had not peaked (AA did not have any real ones).

Equally for an APR-06 CX CMB ticket

Base fare LKR 523,200
Taxes LKR 90,200
Courier to airport LKR 2,200
TOTAL LKR 615,600

Route - CMB-xHKG-xLHR-BCN-xIST-LHR-SFO-xJFK-xDFW-ANC-xDFW-LGA,JFK-SYD-PER-xADL-AKL-SYD-PEK-xHKG-CMB

Just to add a recent data point:

DONE4 ex-CMB commenced December 06:
Base fare: LKR 592,200
Add-ons: LKR 90,000
Courier: LKR 2,200
Total: LKR 684,400

Extras just over 15% of base fare (just over 13% of total).

Route: CMB-xHKG-LHR -xDXB-xLHR-xORD-DCA -Surface IAD-xDFW-xSYD-CBR -xMEL-CBR -xSYD-xHKG-CMB

Dave Noble is correct (you have no idea how sick I am of saying that ), ticketing with AA in CMB can easily save around US$400. It wasn't feasible for me on this trip (it would need an overnight in CMB), but I will do it next time.

Same with us- we don't have the time to take an over night in CMB this time, so will just have to take the charges if they are right! Interesting point about AA, however, while their charges may be lower, their quote for the DONE4 was higher. Here is a portion of the email from the AA GSA in CMB:

The fare from CX was 591200LKR, so with the added stay in CMB, and extra charge for the ticket, any savings may be eaten up- the difference in ticket price is 250US$ alone.

The base fare from AA in CMB will be higher since they include the Fuel Fines into the base fare quoted. Once taxes are added, the total should come out much lower than CX is charging

Dave

Recent datapoint from MRU on AONE4 - was also surprised, thought it was 750

MUR 188000 TAXES MUR 29981 ($900)

That's an amazing bill for taxes, surcharges and whatever. I paid only $300 for a 6 continent, 52k mile Skyteam award last year. I would have to rethink taking RTW awards if they charged that much!