When it comes to airline ticket taxes, the amount can sometimes be more than the actual fare itself. It seems that Governments and facilities levy a range of fees for flying which end up being passed on to the consumer.
Airlines are usually required to give you a breakdown of the taxes and fees with your ticket. Most people don’t really pay much attention to them, but checking them out can reveal interesting information.
Airline Ticket Taxes
Long haul international travel is especially good at attracting service fees. This can and will include fees for services such as immigration, customs, security and more.
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- Taxes and charges on a Delta ticket from Denver to Sydney
Above is the breakdown for a ticket from Denver to Sydney on Delta, which gives you a good idea for what is charged for. All in, these fees added a little over $160 to the overall ticket price.
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- What is someone supposed to make of this?
Of course, sometimes things are a little more arcane. Deciphering the elements in the Cathay Pacific example above is almost impossible. Sure, everything is in SEK which is Swedish Krona, but just what is a G3?
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- When the taxes are all you pay!
Perhaps my favourite though is when taxes are the only price you pay. The Aer Lingus example above shows zero fare, which means you can’t get the ticket any cheaper. When this happens, I don’t really care what the taxes comprise of!
Overall Thoughts
Airline ticket taxes are here to stay and I like it when they are broken down in an easy to read format. While I usually wouldn’t check them at all, sometimes it’s nice to review them just to see what is going on.
Every airport has different fees, which is one reason why fares can differ in each direction of travel. The UK is notorious for this as they charge Air Passenger Duty on all non-connecting flights, which can inflate prices considerably.
Do you pay attention to the taxes portion of your airline ticket? Thank you for reading and if you have any comments or questions, please leave them below.
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Featured image by Lasse Fuss via Wikimedia Commons.
There is climate tax in Sweden. I think that SEK payment is climate payment.
I was not aware of this tax before, so thank you for pointing that out!
I don’t know if the rules are different in other parts of the world but in the US the price quoted during the booking process includes all taxes and airport fees. Airline specific add-ons like baggage, seat selection etc, are not included. Here’s a rundown of my most recent trip: STL-ATL-JFK-ATL-STL. CHARGES Air Transportation Charges Base Fare $333.02 USD Taxes, Fees and Charges United States – September 11th Security Fee(Passenger Civil Aviation Security Service Fee) (AY) $11.20 USD United States – Transportation Tax (US) $24.98 USD United States – Passenger Facility Charge (XF) $18.00 USD United States – Flight Segment… Read more »
It is the same in most places when it comes to airline tickets. They always show the total cost which includes the taxes and charges, but not, as you say, any add-ons such as seats or baggage. Thanks for adding in another data point. 17% isn’t too bad overall when you think about it, it’s almost like a tip!
I found some cheap tickets from ORD-CDG, and the airfare itself is < 1/3rd of the total price of the ticket…
Airfare: 200.00 USD
U.S. Transportation Tax: 37.20 USD
September 11th Security Fee: 5.60 USD
International Surcharge: 350.00 USD
U.S. APHIS User Fee: 3.96 USD
France Passenger Service Charge: 31.60 USD
U.S. Customs User Fee: 5.89 USD
France Airport Tax: 22.00 USD
France Air Passenger Solidarity Tax: 5.00 USD
U.S. Immigration User Fee: 7.00 USD
U.S. Passenger Facility Charge: 4.50 USD
Total Per Passenger: 672.75 USD
Wow, that’s a huge amount of taxes when you think of it. Interesting to see the breakdown, so thanks for posting that. They get you every which way, but I suppose there are a lot of people’s salaries to pay. Thanks for sharing that, really appreciate it!