Taxes and charges added to low air fares on the internet vary considerably between airlines and are in danger of "spiralling out of control", a report from an air passengers' group said today.
The amount of charges specified during the booking process varies considerably on identical routes between airlines. But, the Air Transport Users Council's report said that consumers could be misled into thinking they were standard and might not "shop around" to get the best deal.
The taxes, fees and charges include air passenger duty departure tax, local airport taxes, fuel surcharges and booking fees.
In some cases the charges cost more than the basic fare and sometimes appeared not to relate to the actual cost to the airline. For example, the AUC said, Ryanair imposes a "wheelchair surcharge" on its passengers even if they do not need a wheelchair.
"There is a danger that taxes, fees and charges might spiral out of control as airlines separate out more and more of their costs in order to apparently seek a competitive advantage over their rivals," the report said. It called on airlines to stop separating out charges from the basic fare during the booking process and to quote prices inclusive throughout their websites.
The report found that the charges quoted on airlines' websites have increased considerably in recent years and are now accounting for an ever-increasing proportion of the total price. In some cases, base fares have gone down, appearing more competitive, when in fact the total price has remained the same due to the rise in charges.
Only easyJet had consistently lowered the proportion of charges that make up its total prices, the research showed. On a London-Amsterdam flight last November, an easyJet passenger would have been likely to pay only £10 in charges compared with £41 on the same flight operated by BA.
The AUC said: "Our research shows that there are considerable discrepancies in the levels of taxes, fees and charges quoted on websites during the booking process by airlines operating similar or identical routes and the amount of charges quoted by airlines in general is increasing.
"This separation out of charges appears not to be in the interest of consumers, who might be enticed into purchasing a ticket with an airline on the basis of what appears at first glance a cheap fare, which is in fact, more expensive than its competitors.
"Passengers, who might assume that the charges they would have to pay on a particular route would be the same (or virtually the same) whichever airline they chose to fly with, might, as a result, not get the best deal."
How the airlines compare on extra taxes, fares and charges
(prices in November 2004).
Southampton to Edinburgh: British Airways (BA): £35.70, FlyBe £40.60
Glasgow to Bristol: EasyJet: £10.00, BA: £39.10
London Gatwick to Geneva: EasyJet £14.00, BA: £33.90
London Gatwick to Barcelona: EasyJet £9.50, BA: £28.90
London Gatwick to Amsterdam: EasyJet: £10.00, BA: £41.00
London Gatwick to Nice: EasyJet: £14.50, BA: £38.50
London Gatwick to Inverness: EasyJet: £16.50, BA: £34.50
London Gatwick to Dublin: Ryanair: £28.16, BA: £37.70
London Stansted to Valencia: Ryanair: £22.02, EasyJet: £9.50
Taxes, fees and charges as a proportion of the total price on selected routes
KLM Bristol-Amsterdam: fare: £94.70, charges: £52.70, proportion: 56%
British Airways Heathrow-Paris: fare:£68.20, charges: £43.20, proportion: 64%
Bmi Heathrow-Paris: fare: £55.90, charges: £39.90, proportion: 71%
FlyBe Edinburgh-Birmingham: fare: £34.00, charges: £33.10m, proportion: 97%
EasyJet Luton-Glasgow: fare: £36.00, charges: £10.00, proportion: 28%
Ryanair Stansted-Berlin: fare: £41.00, charges: £25.00, proportion: 61%
