Airline Charges Rip-off

FlashingBlade

How do the airlines get away with advertising low fares then racking them up with 'charges'?

I just booked flights with FlyBe (but they're all at it) which cost about £80. However, the 'taxes and charges' cost another £ 60 (approx.). I know that the domestic tax is £5 each way, so where does the other £50 come from. I cannot find a breakdown of these charges on their site!

Also, I paid by debit card. They charged me £1.50 per passenger per flight for this - even though there was only one debit card fee!!! I know from my own business that the typical processing fee is only 30p per transaction so how do they get away with charging me £3? This is clearly an inflated charge - just like the banks!

It's clear that many airlines are lying to us. Their fares are not representative of the actual fares. They advertise low fares but then charge for all the extras which they know they can get away with, even though they do not reveal what these 'extra' charges are.

Surely this is illegal advertising? Anyone know?

FB.

alanrowell

If they are advertising low fares then bumping them up with COMPULSORY charges then report them to Trading Standards and the Advertising Standards Agency as it's illegal under UK & EU law to do so.

Suggest you read the various other "rip off" threads (hint they aren't) especially where Ryanair is concerned however before making a decision

However I've just gone to the Flybe website and they advertise flights from £16.99 on the homepage

I then go through the booking process and the FIRST stage of the process says

Fare £ 0.00 Taxes and Charges £ 24.99
and gives a link to the costs of various payment methods

Sorry - not a rip off, though it does add another datum point to my theory about postings that start "xxxx rip off".

If anything Flybe comes out quite well compared to someone like Ryanair

_Andy_

*Snore*...here we go again..

FlashingBlade

Thanks Alan.

However, their payment charges page states that they charge per passenger per flight - not per transaction, even though they will only pay one transaction fee to their processor. So, I do think it's a rip-off. They are charging multiple times for a service when they are only charged once!!

Andy - sorry to bore you. Perhaps you should go and read something else!

budgetflyer

Incredibly Tesco charge the customer more for a tin of beans than they pay for it

_Andy_

FlashingBlade wrote: »

Andy - sorry to bore you. Perhaps you should go and read something else!

My expression of boredom is purely because this subject has been done to death over and over. If you do a search you'll be able to find the previous discussions.

phatbear

Rip off, illegal, blah blah blah.

If you dont like it dont book with them simple as really and if you do book with them dont moan about being "ripped off".

all the best

the bear

alanrowell

The point being made is that you don't have to make the booking - and you can avoid the charges by getting an Electron Card (do a search), so it isn't a rip off - sharp and annoying practice perhaps.

headpin

alanrowell wrote: »

The point being made is that you don't have to make the booking - and you can avoid the charges by getting an Electron Card (do a search), so it isn't a rip off - sharp and annoying practice perhaps.

Of course it's a Rip Off. They have to offer one means of paying that does not attract a fee. Most reasonable businesses would offer the means tha the majority of people would use. i.e a maestro, Visa or Masercard. The reason they chose Electron is because most people have never even heard of it, very few financial institutions issue it and by the time most people realise they will be ripped for using their normal plastic means of payment they cannot be bothered to abandoned the booking.

And, as the original OP says, the fee that they incur to process the transaction is nothing like the fee they pass on to their customers. Perhaps adding say 50% maybe acceptable, but they are charging something like 500% more to users of normal debit cards. I'm sure even Mr T doesn't have much in his store with a 500% mark up on it, and certainly not a tin of beans?

Finally, lets not lose sight of the fact that this is suppose to be a money saving site. These huge extras that are added on to the headline price are conveniently ignored in order to mislead (and confuse?) the consumer. FACT. They raise false expectation that the supplier knows will then be difficult for the consumer to supress. The majority of these so called “extras” are all known and fixed costs and could and should be included in the headline price. All major airlines manage to do, it including Easyjet.

We should all be pressing to see clear, fair and available pricing. We should not be trying to justify devious and deceitful marketing and pricing policies by companies that should know better. Or have they an ulterior motive? Is this a money saving site or not?

alanrowell

headpin wrote: »

The majority of these so called “extras” are all known and fixed costs and could and should be included in the headline price. All major airlines manage to do, it including Easyjet.

We should all be pressing to see clear, fair and available pricing. We should not be trying to justify devious and deceitful marketing and pricing policies by companies that should know better. Or have they an ulterior motive? Is this a money saving site or not?

Easyjet charge extra for baggage and use of CCs & DCs as well as for extras like priority boarding. Other airlines charge for checking in at the airport. BA charges for use of a CC when booking so the headline price does not reflect the final price in any case.

You CAN get the headline prices the airlines offer - but you need to know the rules which these days are fairly consistent these days and boil down to

a) Hand luggage only
b) Use an Electron Card
c) Check in online

With those 3 simple rules you do get the prices that are quoted and thus that's why this is a moneysaving website and not a "moaning about avoidable fees" website.


By using airlines with these rules YOU are saving money as you don't pay for the extras that you don't need - like a checked luggage allowance

phatbear

headpin wrote: »

Finally, lets not lose sight of the fact that this is suppose to be a money saving site. These huge extras that are added on to the headline price are conveniently ignored in order to mislead (and confuse?) the consumer. FACT. They raise false expectation that the supplier knows will then be difficult for the consumer to supress. The majority of these so called “extras” are all known and fixed costs and could and should be included in the headline price. All major airlines manage to do, it including Easyjet.

We should all be pressing to see clear, fair and available pricing. We should not be trying to justify devious and deceitful marketing and pricing policies by companies that should know better. Or have they an ulterior motive? Is this a money saving site or not?

I kind of see your point, but if people are foolish enough to fall for this blatant marketing ploy then more fool them.

Go into your average car dealership and they will have the most tricked out car on display with a sticker which says £15000 of course its not until you ask that you realise that the basic car is £15000 and if you want all the optional extras, ie alloys, cd player etc you have to pay for it, no different if you want to fly and take baggage, check in at a desk or pay by certain means.

At the end of it all people have a choice, if you dont like the thought of lining flybe or ryanair's etc pockets go elsewhere and make a stand the reality is of course for every 1 person on that flight that thinks they've been ripped off there are prob 150 who think its a royal bargain.

all the best

the bear