Flight Centre leads charge against fuel surcharges

[oz_mark]

However I was a bit unimpressed. I booked a QF flight last year with them (because i had a FC voucher). They charged me the ~$4 QF CC surcharge, then proceeded to charge me a FC CC surcharge on top of that (which is a % of the total amount). I think that is overstepping the mark a bit...

Given that there would have only been one CC transaction, I would suggest that not only was it overstepping the mark, I would challenge the legality of the charge.

 

[NM]

Whilst dom commissions are very low to Zero upfront..FC(and other large chains) DO get backend commissions based on volume of business they generate

Which I expect is partly why they are reluctant to issue tickets through anyone other than QF .

 

[Mal]

Flight Centre seem to be keeping up the pressure:

Fuel surcharges are 'robbery' | The Courier-Mail

TRAVEL industry leader Graham Turner has blasted airlines for cheating passengers by charging them extra for fuel.
The Flight Centre founder says some airlines are advertising discount flights but slapping people with hundreds of dollars in hidden extras, including fuel surcharges.

He said people were being fooled into thinking that fuel was something other than an operating cost.

"It's been going on for five years. It's time to accept that fuel is part of normal operating costs for an airline," Mr Turner said.

"Fuel, like maintenance, taxes and labour costs, is obviously an integral component of air travel expense so it is difficult to see why it should be treated as a separate surcharge."

 

[oz_mark]

Hopefully the changes to the TPA will fix a few of thses issues

Federal Minister for Competition Policy and Consumer Affairs Chris Bowen has included airline fuel surcharges in new legislation that is cracking down on hidden costs.

Amendments to the Trade Practices Act will ban so-called component pricing, where the full cost is not disclosed in advertising.

 

[JohnK]

Hopefully the changes to the TPA will fix a few of thses issues

It would be interesting to see if the proposed changes to the Trade Practices Act and the following statement will be followed up.

Mr Turner said it was difficult for passengers to compare prices.

The fuel surcharge can add between $240 and $800 to the cost of a flight from Australia to Britain.

Mr Turner has called on all airlines to roll fuel and other operating costs into basic ticket prices.

But I can see Qantas has other things on its mind.

A Qantas spokesman said the airline was watching the fuel situation carefully and was considering both fuel surcharges and fare levels.

 

[Mal]

Hopefully the changes to the TPA will fix a few of thses issues

I'm not sure that they will. Looking at the draft Legislation site: Component Pricing - Draft Legislation , all I can see that the legislation will do is to make Qantas et.al advertise prices inclusive of all charges. So the Fuel Surcharge can happily live as a tax, as long as they advertise eg BNE-CNS at the total price (excluding Credit Card Surcharges). Qantas has been doing this for ages - it's some of the Travel Agents that will get bitten by this though.

 

[oz_mark]

I'm not sure that they will. Looking at the draft Legislation site: Component Pricing - Draft Legislation , all I can see that the legislation will do is to make Qantas et.al advertise prices inclusive of all charges. So the Fuel Surcharge can happily live as a tax, as long as they advertise eg BNE-CNS at the total price (excluding Credit Card Surcharges). Qantas has been doing this for ages - it's some of the Travel Agents that will get bitten by this though.

The issue as I see it is that much of the advertsiing just gives you the +++ after the price, but skirts around quantifying the +++. As a consumer I really don't care how they get to a price (and ultimately they all are just made up of various components), just give me the final number.

The problem with fuel surcharges is that airlines seem to be living in some fictional parallel universe where there is an expectation that oil will go back to US40 a barrel. Not going to happen while the Chinese, and to a lesser extent the Indian, economies are growing and their populations moving to a more energy demanding lifestyles.

 

[oz_mark]

Having read through the proposals, the only thing I can see it really affecting is the practice of some airlines for charging an additional fee for using credit or debit cards, where they don't give any option for not paying that way.

 

[Arthur Hodgson]

The problem with fuel surcharges is that airlines seem to be living in some fictional parallel universe where there is an expectation that oil will go back to US40 a barrel. Not going to happen while the Chinese, and to a lesser extent the Indian, economies are growing and their populations moving to a more energy demanding lifestyles.

I don't believe this is the real reason for crude oil being at the current record prices.

It is greedy speculators and hedge funds that are going long on oil futures.

IMHO, the true value of a barrel of crude oil at the moment is somewhere around USD 75-80, and you may well see the price fall back below $100 once the oil bubble bursts, as all bubbles eventually do (remember the housing bubble in the USA and elsewhere?).

I'm an optimist on the price of oil...

 

[straitman]

I'm an optimist on the price of oil...

I wish I had your confidence in this. :shock: