Can anyone explain to me how airline companies can get away with advertising flights as 'free' or for '1p', when in reality the flight actually costs nearer £40-£50 once taxes, fees and charges have been added. Presumably it is not possible to opt out of paying these taxes, so why publish such an arbitrary and frankly disingenuous figure?

I also can't think of many (or indeed any) other examples of where this happens. Also, it seems to me that this ads fall foul of the OFT guidelines on misleading advertising. You can’t walk down an escalator on the tube without seeing an Easyjet poster saying "fly to Nice for £6". It would take a person with a lot more time and vigilance to read the tiny smallprint at the bottom saying "price not inclusive of taxes,charges, fees and fresh air".

I always thought these prices and offers looked too good to be true, now i know why! :thumbsup:

Edit: Answer to your question.. I can't explain how they can get away with advertising flights for that but i don't think they should be able to get away with it!

i thought the OFT had just sorted this out?

as far as i'm aware, airlines now have to advertise the prices of flights including all the taxes etc.

They can't advertise inclusive of taxes unless it is for a specific flight, e.g. Doncaster to Nice, as taxes vary at different airports.

I agree that it can be misleading, but once you've gone to the website, seen the actual price you know... and its not like you can buy the flight for 1p and then find you have to pay more once you get to the airport or anything, its all there laid out when you buy them!

I think it is time this was illegal in the same way as it is illegal for shops which sell to consumers to advertise their pricing without VAT.

It isn't the only element that needs to be changed. Let's say you pay 1p for a flight but then have £24.99 in taxes and charges making a total, real, price of £25. If you then miss your flight and take another flight they will charge you again. Since some of these charges are passenger taxes, they are charging you two lots of passenger taxes for flying only once.

You are right about the double paying of taxes, that is wrong, or at least I would like to see justification of it.

However they CANNOT advertise all prices inclusive as the rate of tax is different at different airports.

What the do, is to say Flights to Alicante From 1p! From UK airports, not including taxes. Like anything, the information is there, they are not hiding it and you can't buy the flight without be aware of it.

Why should we have yet more legislation to stop people from being stupid and actually reading about what they are purchasing!

You are right about the double paying of taxes, that is wrong, or at least I would like to see justification of it.

However they CANNOT advertise all prices inclusive as the rate of tax is different at different airports.

What the do, is to say Flights to Alicante From 1p! From UK airports, not including taxes. Like anything, the information is there, they are not hiding it and you can't buy the flight without be aware of it.

Why should we have yet more legislation to stop people from being stupid and actually reading about what they are purchasing!

I see where you are coming from, but....

If they are advertising a flight to Nice, and it costs £25 all inclusive, then that is the price it should be advertised at. And if they are advertisng a flight to blackpool, and it costs £18 all inclusive, then that is the price it should be advertised at. They clearly know all the various costs in advance for each airport / destination, so they should be advertised as such. At worst, they should say "flights from x price"

As you say, one cannot book the flight without seeing/paying these additional charges at some point. But to me, that simply isnt the point (and has nothing to with 'stupidity' as you claim it does) Imagine if you had seen the advert for a flight to Italy for £6, got excited and then told all your partner you were planning a visit to see him or her on the back of it. Imagine how bad you would then feel if that actual cost turned out to be £70 each and you couldnt afford to go.

Imagine if the railways operated in the sameway? Or online shops? Yes, you would eventually end up reading the smallprint at somepoint, but that doesnt account for the time you have wasted on their product in the first place or the fact you have been led down the garden path.

However they CANNOT advertise all prices inclusive as the rate of tax is different at different airports.

Even if this was the case then some flights to Nice might cost £20 and other £25. This should mean that they should advertise as "Flights from £20", whereas they actually advertise as "Flights from 1p".

You will find that there is a difference between permissible advertising, by these arlines, in UK and mainland Europe.

Ryanair's UK site front pages list sample flights at the prices without taxes etc.

Their pages for other European countries show those sample flights at the total cost (including taxes etc.)

Budget airlines are offering flights to all sorts of places across Europe for just the price of the taxes and people are complaining?!? :loopy:

Budget airlines are offering flights to all sorts of places across Europe for just the price of the taxes and people are complaining?!? :loopy:

I am not complaining because I understand the fares system. However, we have a system in this country were we expect to see the final price we will pay displayed. If a reputable airline such as BA has flights for £30 then they will probably advertise them as £30. If one of the cheapo airlines has flights for £30 they will probably advertise them at £2.50 but you will pay £30. This means that the better airlines are reduced to changing their pricing to a more confusing system in order to compete. It makes more sense to force the cheapo airlines to change in line with how other consumer goods are priced.

Budget airlines are offering flights to all sorts of places across Europe for just the price of the taxes and people are complaining?!? :loopy:

You make it sound like these "taxes" are a trivial amount.

I recently looked at a flight that was advertised as £1.50, and the total return price was £70.

£70 is still a decent wedge of money.

Also, it is not just 'taxes'. The surcharge also includes "fees" (dubious)and "passenger service charges". The later I understand to be regulated by the airport authorities.

Having visited the CAA website, I am a bit surprised by just how many taxes and fees there can be. In the CAA's words "Where the number of the taxes, fees and charges exceeds the number of boxes on a paper ticket some will be shown collectively with the code XT".

The fees and taxes are:-

Air passenger Duty. Effectively a departure tax.

UK Passenger Service Charge. In 1999 most airlines decided to separate from the fare the pasenger element that they pay to UK airports for the use of the airports passenger facilities.

Insurance and security surcharge. Many airlines have been levying a charge per passenger to cover increased costs of insurance and security.

Fuel Surcharge. May airlines have reacted to rising fuel prices by imposing a separate fuel surcharge.

Other Taxaes and Fees. On international flights passengers are also likely to incur taxes, fees and charges levied by other states.

Can anyone imagine the situation where some other business could get away with this? What if I ordered a taxi to take me to the airport and was quoted £10. On getting the bill I find it is £50 becasue the taxi company have found that the price of tyres increasing, fuel costs rising, and their insurance went up because some taxi drivers got drunk and crashed their taxis. They decide to charge £10 as a tyre subsidy, £20 as an insurance and security fee, and another £10 because the fuel was cheaper when they started the company in 1975.

In any other business we would expect the company to know all the costs of a service and to price accordingly. How can they justify making a seperate charge to use the airport facilities? They can't fly without using those facilities and the cost of them is known well in advance.

You make it sound like these "taxes" are a trivial amount.

I recently looked at a flight that was advertised as £1.50, and the total return price was £70.

£70 is still a decent wedge of money.

Also, it is not just 'taxes'. The surcharge also includes "fees" (dubious)and "passenger service charges". The later I understand to be regulated by the airport authorities.
£70 is as cheap as chips. Remember, you are buying international flights and not... well, chips! ;)

Presumably the £1.50 was for a single? If so, it's not really fair to compare against the cost of a return is it?

Having visited the CAA website, I am a bit surprised by just how many taxes and fees there can be. In the CAA's words "Where the number of the taxes, fees and charges exceeds the number of boxes on a paper ticket some will be shown collectively with the code XT".

The fees and taxes are:-

Air passenger Duty. Effectively a departure tax.

UK Passenger Service Charge. In 1999 most airlines decided to separate from the fare the pasenger element that they pay to UK airports for the use of the airports passenger facilities.

Insurance and security surcharge. Many airlines have been levying a charge per passenger to cover increased costs of insurance and security.

Fuel Surcharge. May airlines have reacted to rising fuel prices by imposing a separate fuel surcharge.

Other Taxaes and Fees. On international flights passengers are also likely to incur taxes, fees and charges levied by other states.

Can anyone imagine the situation where some other business could get away with this? What if I ordered a taxi to take me to the airport and was quoted £10. On getting the bill I find it is £50 becasue the taxi company have found that the price of tyres increasing, fuel costs rising, and their insurance went up because some taxi drivers got drunk and crashed their taxis. They decide to charge £10 as a tyre subsidy, £20 as an insurance and security fee, and another £10 because the fuel was cheaper when they started the company in 1975.

In any other business we would expect the company to know all the costs of a service and to price accordingly. How can they justify making a seperate charge to use the airport facilities? They can't fly without using those facilities and the cost of them is known well in advance.
I agree, too many stealth taxes but ultimately these are still great deals.

Given that this government are the masters of the stealth tax, I can't see them doing much about it.

I see where you are coming from, but....

If they are advertising a flight to Nice, and it costs £25 all inclusive, then that is the price it should be advertised at. And if they are advertisng a flight to blackpool, and it costs £18 all inclusive, then that is the price it should be advertised at. They clearly know all the various costs in advance for each airport / destination, so they should be advertised as such. At worst, they should say "flights from x price"



As I saidm they CANNOT advertise like this, as taxes relate to both departure and arrival airports. Most adverts which are advertising flights from local airports do do this. For example I have seen several posters recently for Flights from Doncaster, which show and all inclusive price, because the ad refers to both departue and arrival advert. However, on TV advertising, Internet pop ups, national press etc, they can't do that for big banner ads.

TBH I think people are just whinging. If you don't like the taxes that you pay extra, look at flying somewhere else. The otehr weekend I found return flights to Rome and to Pisa for just over £50 return, including all charges! Get a grip, I can't drive to visit friends around this country for that!

As I saidm they CANNOT advertise like this, as taxes relate to both departure and arrival airports. Most adverts which are advertising flights from local airports do do this. For example I have seen several posters recently for Flights from Doncaster, which show and all inclusive price, because the ad refers to both departue and arrival advert. However, on TV advertising, Internet pop ups, national press etc, they can't do that for big banner ads.

TBH I think people are just whinging. If you don't like the taxes that you pay extra, look at flying somewhere else. The otehr weekend I found return flights to Rome and to Pisa for just over £50 return, including all charges! Get a grip, I can't drive to visit friends around this country for that!

So why when you go to the respective website, does it (eventually) give you a price which includes tax and charges. Or when I see a poster advert to fly from Stanstead to Stockholm for £9.99, are you telling me they dont know the addtional costs? Presumably these taxes dont change on a daily basis? They must know about them in advance. Or am I missing something here?

As for "get a grip" I am not quite sure what you mean by this. I recently looked at Booking a flight to Belfast from London for "£14.99" Now that would be a bargain.

The final all inclusive return price was £87. I wouldnt call this a 'bargain' by any stretch of the imagination.

Wasn't legislation used to force car sales to be advertised with an 'On the Road' price instead of a basic which was then added to with 'number plates', 'delivery', 'registration' etc. etc.

The advertising is basically misleading, and the addition of fuel surcharges is a completely underhand way of bumping up the price.
The ASA should ban the practice of inventing new surcharges and force only full and complete prices to be advertised.

To answer your question, Mike. I'm in IT. I recall this database project which were given to the uni by some IT company which does airline ticketing systems.

You see adverts advertised as 6.99 or 2.99 are REAL prices. However, it does not say that, it will only have something like 2% of a flight's seating to be at this price.

It's just that, it will sell a small percentage of its seats as cheap, and the rest will increase as the time goes by, as it gets nearer to the actual flight date. Hence booking a flight ticket on the 1st of the month 'may' (not always the case) differ to that of the end of the month. Presuming both tickets are for the same date and everything.

Also, I remember that, there's different classes of tickets. Economy, Frequent flyers and Business class. Basically, their pricing will differ.

Well, the adverts are still quite legal, cos they are not blatantly advertising falsely. Just kind of misleading. At the same time, you see similar pricing structures for trains. The closer it is to the actual travel date, the more expensive it is. If you notice, most adverts will say, 'from'.
I'm not sure why you think there are no 9.99 flights. Most of the time, I can still find such prices for mid-week flights. The less popular times and flights would be the cheapest of flights. This is almost always the case from my own experiences.

Cheap, yes, for a reason.

Taxes - I thought that the taxes are set for different airports ? e.g. Dublin is different to Paris. They're are not fluctuating prices which depends on the fuel costs. i.e. once the have changed, the airline will state this, and it remains for a while, and do not fluctuate on a day-to-day basis ? Or so I thought...

To answer your question, Mike. I'm in IT. I recall this database project which were given to the uni by some IT company which does airline ticketing systems.

You see adverts advertised as 6.99 or 2.99 are REAL prices. However, it does not say that, it will only have something like 2% of a flight's seating to be at this price.

It's just that, it will sell a small percentage of its seats as cheap, and the rest will increase as the time goes by, as it gets nearer to the actual flight date. Hence booking a flight ticket on the 1st of the month 'may' (not always the case) differ to that of the end of the month. Presuming both tickets are for the same date and everything.

Also, I remember that, there's different classes of tickets. Economy, Frequent flyers and Business class. Basically, their pricing will differ.

Well, the adverts are still quite legal, cos they are not blatantly advertising falsely. Just kind of misleading. At the same time, you see similar pricing structures for trains. The closer it is to the actual travel date, the more expensive it is. If you notice, most adverts will say, 'from'.
I'm not sure why you think there are no 9.99 flights. Most of the time, I can still find such prices for mid-week flights. The less popular times and flights would be the cheapest of flights. This is almost always the case from my own experiences.

Cheap, yes, for a reason.

If I see a train ticket advertised at £6 from London to Sheffield though, that is what I pay.

If I see a plane ticket advertised at £6 from London to (say) Dublin, I am almost certainly going to be paying an infinite amount more.

That is my problem.

If you see a train ticket advertised for Sheffield to London at £6, you go to the website, put in the journey times that you want and find out that it's now £104.
You search in vain for the elusive £6 ticket.
You phone up, only to be told that the £6 ticket was sold out (ie it was sold, singular) within 4 seconds of the advertising campaign starting, but would you like to travel first class for the bargain price of £156?

To be fair (geddit), the £6 ticket did exist, unlike the 1p flight which simply doesn't. It's just that there was only 1 of them.

PS - if you ever get charged an infinite amount, i'd pay it with a cheque. it will almost certainly break the banking IT systems and so you'll never be charged.

If you see a train ticket advertised for Sheffield to London at £6, you go to the website, put in the journey times that you want and find out that it's now £104.
You search in vain for the elusive £6 ticket.
You phone up, only to be told that the £6 ticket was sold out (ie it was sold, singular) within 4 seconds of the advertising campaign starting, but would you like to travel first class for the bargain price of £156?

To be fair (geddit), the £6 ticket did exist, unlike the 1p flight which simply doesn't. It's just that there was only 1 of them.

PS - if you ever get charged an infinite amount, i'd pay it with a cheque. it will almost certainly break the banking IT systems and so you'll never be charged.

Also the railway doesn't then charge you £15 for using the station facilities and doesn't call this a "passenger surcharge". It would be impossible to get a flight where you didn't use the airport facilities and yet you are charged for this as if it is a separate item.

I used to work in travel and the cheap fares on the posters were generally only available on the most horrendous flight times and very few seats were ever available at that price. The taxes could differ if any touch downs were involved and were different depending on flight times. It was always a nightmare if someone came in wanting the cheap flight advertised cos we new the chance of it being available were so slim.

If I see a train ticket advertised at £6 from London to Sheffield though, that is what I pay.

If I see a plane ticket advertised at £6 from London to (say) Dublin, I am almost certainly going to be paying an infinite amount more.

That is my problem.
Well, you just gotta me smarter and work with the system, because these cheap tickets do exist. Even the train ones. If you've sussed out when they will be cheap, you will forever be the person who gets the cheap tickets.

I'm one of these people that often get the cheap deals, cos it suits me, and my lifestyle. I travel mostly on off-peak times, and I try and book in say 3-6 months in advanced. It usually gurantees me such prices.

To be honest, it's like all products/services sold. It's all about supply and demand. Less demand, cheaper prices. Higher demand, higher prices. Presuming the same number of items/services are always on offer to be sold.

The practice of advertising a flight at £0.01, and then telling the prospective customer it's £50-something including taxes, is due to be outlawed. Flights will HAVE to be advertised at a total, all-inclusive price, regardless of whether or posters in this thread think it's possible to do so or not. :hihi:

It'll take a few months to come through, things always do. But they have, already, been found to be in breach of common UK business practices. They're on the way out.

It can be a little annoying when your 1p flight suddenly turns into a £50 flight.

Im a regular flyer with British Airways and i know the price they quote you on their website is the price you end up paying, which is think is far better than all this 1p crap then you get right to checking out and you then notice its gone up to £50.

But then again which billboard ad catches your eye the most a Ryanair ad saying 1p in huge letters then the words excluding taxes and charges in tiny letters or a British Airways ad that say from £50 including taxes and charges.

HEY!!!!

Ryanair are starting new flights from Doncaster (Girona & Pisa) and are offering flights at £10 each way INCLUDING ALL TAXES & CHARGES!

(You'll still have to pay for your bags
.... and your credit card booking)



Edit: In fact, it looks like if you book before Thursday, you can find these £10 inclusive fares on all routes.

It can be a little annoying when your 1p flight suddenly turns into a £50 flight.

Not entirely reasonable to turn up at an airport wth 1p and expect to be able to fly anywhere though.

Not entirely reasonable to turn up at an airport wth 1p and expect to be able to fly anywhere though.

I think most people should have enough common sence to know that your 1p advertised flight will not be the price you pay. The annoying bit is that you think you may have found a cheap flight ( although not at 1p ) then by the time all the taxes and other charges have been added on its no cheaper than flying with one of the so called major airlines.

Well, you just gotta me smarter and work with the system, because these cheap tickets do exist. Even the train ones. If you've sussed out when they will be cheap, you will forever be the person who gets the cheap tickets.

I'm one of these people that often get the cheap deals, cos it suits me, and my lifestyle. I travel mostly on off-peak times, and I try and book in say 3-6 months in advanced. It usually gurantees me such prices.

To be honest, it's like all products/services sold. It's all about supply and demand. Less demand, cheaper prices. Higher demand, higher prices. Presuming the same number of items/services are always on offer to be sold.

I travel a lot from London to Sheffield, and often take advantage of the £6 each way tickets. And yes, as Cylcone pointed out, these tickets are few and far between. But at least when I DO puchase that £6 ticket, that is all I am paying.

The fact is I would not be able to travel from one airport to another for an all inclusive charge of 1p. And this is what narks me. Its utterly misleading.

Imagine if the trian companies started saying "travel form London to Leeds for 1P!!" and then when you actually came to buy your ticket they whack on a £20 "fuel charge"

???

If they advertise the ticket to be 1p, of course they are more cos there are tax charges. If you're a flyer, you would know that. Often than not, such words would be in the small print of the advert, unfortunately. It's the way of the industry. As mentioned before, it's unfortunate that the airline industry means that different airport are charged at different rates, depending on the country and the exchange rates. It is just how it is...

Trains in the same country. Remains at the same price. For a short period of time, without fluctuation. If the 6 quid ticket goes, they go. For train companies, maybe they can charge less of the 6 quid tickets, and more of the 33 quid tickets, if they so wish.

Also, you have to think about what's the chance of getting that 1p flight ticket. There's the whole of the UK who probably want to go abroad. Yet, there may be only a few people who are already in Sheffield, wanting to go down to London. Of course, you're likely to get a 6 quid ticket, at offpeak times.