Report warns of no-frills airlines' hidden charges

It's a familiar process. You type in the URL of an airline's website to be greeted with eye-catching, attractively low prices. You are then lured deeper and deeper into the online booking process, only for the ticket costs to jump once taxes, fees and charges are eventually included.

But the additional charges levied by different airlines can vary dramatically, even on identical routes, according to a study by the Air Transport Users' Council (AUC), a UK consumer watchdog for the airline industry.

"At this stage, the passenger might be wary of looking at other airlines' websites for fear of losing the seemingly bargain flights they had been intending to book," according to the report.

The AUC believes that air passengers assume that the additional taxes, fees and charges that must be paid are a standard amount for all airlines and, therefore, do not shop around on other airline websites for comparable total fares.

Although airlines have to pay standard government taxes and airport charges, a large proportion of the additional charges imposed on each ticket are operating expenses that vary from carrier to carrier. These expenses include fuel charges, insurance, passenger service charges and online booking fees.

For example, Aer Lingus charges a handling fee of €4 per person, while Ryanair charges €2.50 per person for credit card bookings and 60 cent for debit card bookings.

According to the AUC, passengers may believe that all or most of the added taxes, fees and charges are imposed by third parties, as many airlines refuse to itemise the added charges on their websites, meaning passengers have little idea what they are paying for.

Although Aer Lingus does not provide any breakdown, Ryanair separates out government taxes from its operating expenses.

It also itemises an "insurance and wheelchair levy" of €3.28 per flight, which it charges to all of its passengers.

The cost of providing wheelchair assistance - to a maximum of four wheelchair users per flight - is partially stripped out in order to highlight a cost that Ryanair believes should be absorbed by airports rather than airlines.

The AUC says that, where airlines choose to separate additional charges from the base fare, as in the case of the Ryanair wheelchair levy, passengers have the right to expect that the charges relate directly to the cost to the airline.

"However, there is no guarantee that this is the case," the report says. "For example, passengers have no guarantee that the recent fuel surcharges imposed by airlines actually compare with the recent rise in the price of oil."

When advertising their fares, airlines, travel agents and tour operators in the Republic are required by the Advertising Standards Authority of Ireland (ASAI) to include all taxes, fees and charges when quoting fares in advertisements.

The Consumer Information (Advertisements for Airfares) Order 2000, enforced by the Director of Consumer Affairs, puts this requirement on a legal footing.

Handling fees relating to the method of payment is the only charge that does not have to be included in the total price, which must be given at least equal prominence to any other prices quoted in the advertisement, according to the ASAI.

Consumers should not have to calculate the total price.

"Generally in the printed and broadcast media, everyone now knows the rules," says Frank Goodman, the ASAI's chief executive.

Despite this, cases where advertisements have shown only base fares repeatedly crop up in the ASAI's complaints bulletins.

Recent breaches of the ASAI code have involved e-mails sent as part of a direct marketing campaign, according to Mr Goodman.

These e-mails are subject to the ASAI codes, but they do not govern the home pages of airline websites.

The AUC says airlines that want to keep the headline price of fares competitive are increasing their fees and charges as a proportion of the total price, while keeping base fares deceptively low.

It identified no-frills "no surprises" airline Easyjet as the only exception to the rule, however its study did not include Aer Lingus.

Meanwhile, consumers who miss or cancel their flights have had trouble securing refunds of government taxes and airport fees, even though airlines do not pay these charges if the person does not travel.

Some airlines refuse to refund the charges to passengers who miss or cancel their flights, while others charge a refund administration fee that often exceeds the value of the tax to be refunded.