XL....MONEYSAVING IS NOT the be all & end-all-a lesson learnt

Tojo_Ralph

meester wrote: »

Surely you should know, seeing as you're a travel agent? The taxes are £40, there's perhaps a few quid going in airport charges, maybe a few $ in the USA (not sure), the rest goes to the airline.

Midlands Mum stated that they sold a ticket to New York and the fare was £33 with £267 Taxes.

You appear to be contesting this claim and implying that the £267 is not in fact taxes?

Please explain?

switch007

khizman wrote: »

Possibly, but they were adding to the airlines profits, that along with scratchcards (!!!!!!?), headphones, duty free.

How dare they! This is what is keeping airlines up in the sky. It's all part of the "true" ticket cost, along with CC charges, check in charges, baggage charges etc.

And to the original poster, please go away. You have been shamed to high hell and I think everyone will agree that you aren't welcome here.

richardw

Tojo_Ralph wrote: »

Midlands Mum stated that they sold a ticket to New York and the fare was £33 with £267 Taxes.

You appear to be suggesting that the £267 is not in fact taxes?

Please explain?

Compare flights LGW-ALC on easyJet, BA, Monarch and the Taxes, Fees and charges are different,

meester

Tojo_Ralph wrote: »

Midlands Mum stated that they sold a ticket to New York and the fare was £33 with £267 Taxes.

You appear to be suggesting that the £267 is not in fact taxes?

Please explain?

Sure.

Here's a return London to Kuala Lumpur:

Outbound journey Detail MH3
Economy London - Heathrow
Kuala Lumpur International Airport Thu, 16 Oct
12:00
07:25 (+1) Inbound journey Detail MH4
Economy Kuala Lumpur International Airport
London - Heathrow Thu, 23 Oct
10:05
16:15 Air fare cost Rules TypeTravellersNetTax
Fare: GBP 465.00
Tax: GBP 303.80 (details)
Total: GBP 768.80 each

As you can see, the fare is £465, and the tax £303.80

That tax is broken down as follows:

GB United Kingdom: Air Passengers Duty GBP 40.00 each
UB United Kingdom: Passenger Service Charge GBP 19.70 each
MY Malaysia: Passenger Service Charge GBP 8.30 each
YQ Surcharge GBP 235.80 each

Only £40 is a tax. That goes to the government for general expenditure.

£19.70 goes to BAA for use of Heathrow, and £8.30 to KL airport for use of that airport.

The other £235.80 is 'Surcharge', levied for the last few years by most airlines due to high fuel prices, in essence the argument is that if the fuel prices were at a normal level, you'd just pay the fare + taxes + PSCs, so that £235.80 would come off.

Sometimes airlines call it 'fuel surcharge', which makes it sound less bad, but either way it's going to the airline 100%, and there's no distinction at all between the fuel surcharge and the fare in terms of revenue or what they can do with it. It all goes towards the airline's profits

And just to add, there's no way the government could get away with charging £267 in tax on an airline ticket!

ynot2005

i think the lesson learnt travelman is that the trend of holidaymakers not going to travel agents will rise sharply after the third biggest in the country went bust

and no doubt the theme from the likes of thomas cook is you are going to have to pay a lot more now to be assured of a safe holiday, will be a hard pill to swallow when you can fly for nothing and book yourself a cheap deal.

the mystery of booking holidays abroad and how you need experts to guide you and look after you is so last century

travel agents a dying breed, thats why travelman is so bitter

TRAVELMAN_2

I'm not bitter....just think that those that choose to A)-ask for help & wasted agents time by booking a non-protected deal (after happily using us as an 'information source') will learn that 'saving a few quid' ain't worth it on something as important as a holiday (sure-white goods, single items yes but something where the risk factor is so great-which could be avoided by spending a few £££ extra for an ATOL protected deal it JUST AIN'T worth the risk) & -Will know next time to make sure the WHOLE deal is ATOL protected!

TRAVELMAN_2

Quote ' think the lesson learnt travelman is that the trend of holidaymakers not going to travel agents will rise sharply after the third biggest in the country went bust'

Do'hhhhhhhhh..............YNOT it was not a TRAVEL AGENT THAT WENT BUST- It was a tour operator.

Precisely WHY people need a good independant agent-as most (as proved by you) do not hava a clue as to the difference between agent & Tour Operator.

A few quid more & an ATOL package is yours-FULL refund-OR change of flights.

Pay a touch more-full protection-save a few quid-lose either ALL your money or get a refund on the flight only-leaving you to book a much dearer alternative-choice is yours.

Had someone call me a week ago-we were £40 dearer than xl.com-I discounted down to the '£40 dearer' (for a family of 4!) & they turned me down-choosing to save £40. They were from MSE. They booked with a maestro card-NO monies back from xl-70% canx. charge from the accom supplier.

IS THIS MONEYSAVING???!

sarah23_2

I know that there will be a lot of people in the awful situation of maybe not being able to claim any cash back. But is there anyone out there who can answer a few questions, as for the last 3 days no one I telephone wants to help, I keep getting fobbed off.

I paid for a package holiday holiday to Orlando for in January 08, for travel on the 24th Sept 08. I purchased, hotel, flight, car hire, excess bagagge allowance, paid several instalments with a debit card, then paid the remaining ballance with a visa credit card. In july I purchased 3 extra attraction tickets through TCD and paid in full with the credit card. My question is when you read to claim form from CAA, it asked for the reference number of the package holiday, as all the attraction tickets and the package all have different reference numbers, will I still be able to claim for all of them as a package on the one claim form, or do I fill in 3 separate claim forms, and would there be a chance of me getting all the money back. If anyone has the claim form, please be aware that it states that you have the have this signed by either a Solicitor, or a Commissionar of Oaths. For those asking, have contacted the Visa company, the first time on Friday, when I explained the situation, they said "Sorry I am unable to help" and put the phone down. I even contacted the Hotel in Orlando, to check if they had the reservation and whether or not the booking would still stand and I could then just obtain a flight, but they inform me that the hotels only bill the tour operators once the guests have had there stay. Can anyone tell me if this is true, or could I be sat here and yet still be able to use the booking. If it's not paid for where has everyone's money gone. I did contact First Choice and Thomas Cook, but would have had to pay a further £800.00 and that was just for the hotel and flight, and were told we would have to pay again for attraction tickets, car hire and car insurance. If anyone can help then please give me some advise.

richardw

TRAVELMAN wrote: »

will learn that 'saving a few quid' ain't worth it on something as important as a holiday

But it isn't just a few quid, it is more and for some of us it is most definitely worth it. I stayed at a unique fantastic hotel in the south of France last week, they don't accept travel agents bookings, so there was no chance of a package holiday.

jayok

TRAVELMAN wrote: »

They booked with a maestro card-NO monies back from xl-70% canx. charge from the accom supplier.

IS THIS MONEYSAVING???!

As well as thanking you for highlighting this, I would much prefer that the Government will strengthen consumer protection to cover all payment methods when paying online. It is ludicrous that consumer A gets full protection when paying with a Mastercard and consumer B gets no protection when paying with a Switch card