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Taxes and airport fees are easily 20% (and that's just for US domestic) of the cost of a ticket which the airline had to eat every time these golden ticket hold

Taxes and airport fees are easily 20% (and that's just for US domestic) of the cost of a ticket which the airline had to eat every time these golden ticket holders flew (or even booked?). These fees unpredictably and radically increased over the time since the golden tickets were issued as well. There's more in the soup than just the marginal cost of the physical seat occupation.

scarmig 10y ago
Do the taxes and fees scale linearly with the cost of the ticket? I would guess that as seats become more expensive, the amount taxes and fees comprise of the total goes down.
- delinka 10y ago
  Are taxes a flate rate, or a percentage?
  - ghaff 10y ago
    Fees and taxes are a mix though, at least with domestic coach, they scale to within a few percentage points with the price of the ticket--about 15% overall. International has quite a few more fees. Overall they added up to about 25% with a recent US-UK flight.
    - ubernostrum 10y ago
      British Airways is notorious for its "fuel surcharge", which is not a government-imposed tax. It's just an extra fee they tack on to make sure the low advertised ticket price ends up costing you enough for them to make a profit. The worst is when you use frequent-flier miles to book with them; you still have to pay the "fuel" surcharge, which guarantees they get an amount, in cash, equal to an economy-class fare even for your "free" ticket.
      - gubby 10y ago
        The first part is not true. When you look at flights on BA.com, in their journey planner, that price is the final price, to the penny.
waqf 10y ago
The main "fee" that has radically increased is the fuel surcharge, which is not a tax payable to the government, it's a bullshit added fee imposed by airlines which may or may not correspond in some way to some cost they have. It would be more reasonable just to say that the opportunity cost of a free seat they gave away in the past is more than the airlines expected for various reasons (higher load factors, higher ticket prices).

scarmig 10y ago

Do the taxes and fees scale linearly with the cost of the ticket? I would guess that as seats become more expensive, the amount taxes and fees comprise of the total goes down.

delinka 10y ago
Are taxes a flate rate, or a percentage?
- ghaff 10y ago
  Fees and taxes are a mix though, at least with domestic coach, they scale to within a few percentage points with the price of the ticket--about 15% overall. International has quite a few more fees. Overall they added up to about 25% with a recent US-UK flight.
  - ubernostrum 10y ago
    British Airways is notorious for its "fuel surcharge", which is not a government-imposed tax. It's just an extra fee they tack on to make sure the low advertised ticket price ends up costing you enough for them to make a profit. The worst is when you use frequent-flier miles to book with them; you still have to pay the "fuel" surcharge, which guarantees they get an amount, in cash, equal to an economy-class fare even for your "free" ticket.
    - gubby 10y ago
      The first part is not true. When you look at flights on BA.com, in their journey planner, that price is the final price, to the penny.

waqf 10y ago

The main "fee" that has radically increased is the fuel surcharge, which is not a tax payable to the government, it's a bullshit added fee imposed by airlines which may or may not correspond in some way to some cost they have. It would be more reasonable just to say that the opportunity cost of a free seat they gave away in the past is more than the airlines expected for various reasons (higher load factors, higher ticket prices).