# Air Fares



## Peter T (11 May 2009)

Just booked a ticket for short trip from Birmingham to Paris with Air France, total price £200.70. 

This breaks down as - 

Ticket Price - 117.00 
Booking fee - 0.00 
Fuel surcharge - 40.00 
Aviation civil, fiscal, French airport and airport tax - 22.10 
Passenger service charge - 11.10 
UK air passenger duty - 10.00 
Passenger service charge international - 8.90 
Solidarity tax - 0.90 

I think that's everything!! 

Is it just me or is this whole setup of taxes, duties and surcharges totally ridiculous?? 

Maybe they're copying the MP's expenses system!!


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## woodbloke (11 May 2009)

If you need to use a national carrier, expect to pay a premium price...that trip from Brum to Paris can be had much cheaper with a bit of Googleisationing around. Me and SWIMBO have just returned from trip to Poland...£3.50 each way with Ryanair 8-[ , a name not mentioned with due gravitas around these parts I might add :wink: :lol: - Rob


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## wizer (11 May 2009)

Solidarity Reg


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## Peter T (11 May 2009)

woodbloke":350iyhys said:


> If you need to use a national carrier, expect to pay a premium price...that trip from Brum to Paris can be had much cheaper with a bit of Googleisationing around. Me and SWIMBO have just returned from trip to Poland...£3.50 each way with Ryanair 8-[ , a name not mentioned with due gravitas around these parts I might add :wink: - Rob



But I don't want to go to Poland, I want to go to Paris : I did check the budget airlines and the prices were slightly lower, but not low enough to justify travelling to Luton or Stansted.

I wasn't complaining about the price so much as this whole system of taxes and surcharges that has built up around air fares. 

I have receipts from last year, when oil was over $100 a barrel, showing the same level of fuel surcharge as today, despite the fact that oil is now less than half that :evil:

PS. And what on earth is Solidarity Tax???


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## lurker (11 May 2009)

I've just booked a Ryan air from East midlands to Inverness & back

The website started off by telling me the dates I wanted "were absolutely free flights!" - by the time I'd added all the "bits" the total was just shy of £100 :roll: 

Still would cost me that just for fuel in the car


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## MikeG. (11 May 2009)

I've just booked 4 flights to Zambia........£1050 for the flights, £1650 for the taxes and surcharges! 

I wish they hadn't broken it down for me!!

Mike


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## StevieB (11 May 2009)

Hah - notice you said Poland rather than naming a city. With Ryanair the closest they can do is name the country isn't it? :lol: :lol: Worst national carrier I have ever used is actually AirItalia - never ever take a long haul flight with them unless you have packed your hand luggage with food, you will starve!

Steve.


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## gatesmr2 (11 May 2009)

Hi Peter 

Not much help now but my better half is French so we travel to Tours a lot nearest airport to Le Mans unless you happen to be really posh and fly into the private airport there. :shock: 

The earlier you book the cheaper it is, with Ryanair it can go from £16.50 return from Stanstead up to £200 plus. We normally try and sort it out at least a 3 months in advance to get a good price.

And yes the taxes etc are annoying but again you can get around a lot of the cheaper airlines ones by not taking bags, online checkin and if you do travel a lot one of there own credit cards etc. Apart from the last one i do all of these. When you are talking paying upto £60 for bags we can buy what we want over there for this, like deodorant jeans at a push etc etc.

One thing that does bother me with all these airport taxes is they seem to go up the closer you are to the date of your flight surely its a fixed price for a plane to land or take off. I know bags ( i know not a tax but seems to be these days) can vary but how can i get a ticket for £16.50 return when i know the taxes out of Tours alone cost more than this :? :? 

Martin


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## Peter T (11 May 2009)

Things have changed since my last post!

Having checked the schedule with with everyone involved, I made the booking as detailed in my first post. For that price the flight times were not changeable.

Next thing I get a call from another customer in the Paris area saying they must have a meeting ASAP. 

I called the airline to try to change the time of the return flight; not possible. The only possibility is to cancel the entire booking and start again, and pay a cancellation fee equivalent to 2/3 of the ticket cost, less taxes etc.

I then tried to re-book with a later return flight. Miraculously the price for this return ticket is more than double the original one at £425.00. 

For Gods sake, I just want to ride on the plane, not buy it.


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## mailee (11 May 2009)

I have to admit that sometimes these taxes on flights are like something out of a Monty Python sketch! It seems like everyone at each airport wants a cut of it! Next thing we will see is a tax for the airport toilet attendant and one for the woman who is cleaning the floor and is always in your way when you arrive! :roll: What really beats me is how they can charge over twice the cost of the flight during the peak season! My son had to fly back to China as his grandfather was very ill last year. It was in the middle of the peak season and with a carrier we had used many times before, but out of season. His ticket cost us £840 whereas the previous year we had flown with the same company off peak for a little under £400. We dare not use our local airport as this is even more expensive than driving to Heathrow! What the hell is going on?? :evil:


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## Grinding One (12 May 2009)

Well I can beat that....over here if your overweight you need to buy 2 tickets to haul your fat a**.....I can not believe the stuff people bring on a trip.I don`t bring anything but money,you can get clothes anywhere in the world so you do not need to haul them,you can not bring on any bottles of anything,(terrist)and you can not bring any sharp objects....but you can buy them anywhere...So why haul a bunch of bags?? That`s why the ticket prices are so high,your aloud 70 lbs. and people have to bring there whole closet of clothes.And then they want to bring 2 bags as carry ons??More junk you don`t need.You wonder why it cost so much?? Think of shipping a tool,now put it in a bag,it probbaly is cheaper on an airplane.


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## RogerS (12 May 2009)

Grinding One":175xqmuc said:


> Well I can beat that....over here if your overweight you need to buy 2 tickets to haul your fat a**........



That sounds eminently sensible to me. Even Ryanair, who are suggesting a 'fat tax' get my vote (a rare event, I do accept). 

I used to fly a lot and got quite used to the time it took to get up to flying speed on the runway. The scariest flight though was from LA to Vegas. I boarded early, got my window seat, shortly to be crushed against the inner skin as Man Mountain eased his way into the three seats - his, mine and the poor guy on the other side. I glanced back in the plane only to see MM's entire family, it seemed, boarding the plane. Averting my eyes, I watched the luggage being loaded....and loaded....and loaded.....then all the cargo....and I wondered if we'd ever take off. That haul down the runway was one of the longest in my life and I breathed a sigh of relief when the plane finally clawed its' way into the sky.


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## Peter T (12 May 2009)

Grinding One":29qker4w said:


> Well I can beat that....over here if your overweight you need to buy 2 tickets to haul your fat a**.....I can not believe the stuff people bring on a trip.I don`t bring anything but money,you can get clothes anywhere in the world so you do not need to haul them,you can not bring on any bottles of anything,(terrist)and you can not bring any sharp objects....but you can buy them anywhere...So why haul a bunch of bags?? That`s why the ticket prices are so high,your aloud 70 lbs. and people have to bring there whole closet of clothes.And then they want to bring 2 bags as carry ons??More junk you don`t need.You wonder why it cost so much?? Think of shipping a tool,now put it in a bag,it probbaly is cheaper on an airplane.



I know what you mean. I fly around the US quite a lot and I'm still shocked by the amount of stuff passengers are allowed to take on board.

The last flight I was on some woman came on board dragging a suitcase the size of a Volvo and the proceeded to ask other passengers to lift it into the overhead bin. 

Now, I was always brought up to be gentlemanly towards women, not very pc I know, but this silly tart knew she was going to have lift this thing into the overhead but still packed it so full it needed 6 people just to lift it off the floor :evil:


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## newt (12 May 2009)

I think we discussed over weight in a previous post. For years the airlines have assumed an average weight for individuals, but our average weight has increased significantly. There has been fatal crashes due to over weight passengers. Therefore we should be weighed at check in.


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## lurker (12 May 2009)

newt":4vh0lapt said:


> I think we discussed over weight in a previous post. For years the airlines have assumed an average weight for individuals, but our average weight has increased significantly. There has been fatal crashes due to over weight passengers. Therefore we should be weighed at check in.



Pete,

Might I be correct in guessing you are a skinny little runt :lol: :lol:


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## big soft moose (12 May 2009)

Peter T":1n8f2byr said:


> Miraculously the price for this return ticket is more than double the original one at £425.00.
> .



you might be better off with eurostar ....


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## Grinding One (13 May 2009)

Well I do not mind buying another ticket if I get two seats,those little seats my grand daughter of 11 years has a hard time in...But first class is the way to travel,they have lazy boy sizes...(lazy boy is a recliner) a 6 ft 280lb guy would fit very well.


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