V-Flyer

Though I would ask all out intelligence users of v-flyer this question to make out Friday go faster

With all the news over the past few days about oil being at the lowest for over 5 years (not my data, many sources) and the forecast for the next 12 months either stable or lowering should we really be seeing the removal of the fuel surcharge next in Q1 2015?? From what I understand the fuel is purchased in advance from the fuel suppliers.
I have been in the US for the last 4 weeks and have seen the cost at the pumps fall by 30cents a gallon!!
Now I do not really understand how these things work. Would it be one airline moving forward and the rest following are are the airlines really making so much from this hidden tax that they couldn't afford to remove it??

They will reduce them bit by bit when made to but dragging and screaming all the way along ! We will not get a reduction reflecting their fuel costs I am sure and that is airlines worldwide !

Don't forget that airlines hedge against fuel costs by buying fuel many, many months in advance (similar to gas) so it will take a while for those deals to unwind and the lower prices to come into play in the airlines costs base.


Depending on how an individual airline has hedged will depend on how quickly they will reduce the surcharge though.

tontybear wrote:Don't forget that airlines hedge against fuel costs by buying fuel many, many months in advance (similar to gas) so it will take a while for those deals to unwind and the lower prices to come into play in the airlines costs base.


Depending on how an individual airline has hedged will depend on how quickly they will reduce the surcharge though.

So would that mean a refund for fuel surcharges paid for a flight say next August?

Hull wrote:
So would that mean a refund for fuel surcharges paid for a flight say next August?

A refund?

Always thought Fuel Surcharge was just a mechanism for charging money for reward flights, so its name didn't matter. I doubt it will ever drop when fuel drops...

In my opinion the Airlines treat their passengers with total disrespect regarding this issue

They hide behind the "we buy fuel in advance" comment, thus trying to justify why the fuel surcharge is not bring reduced at this point when fuel is at 5 year low.

However let's be realistic, as soon as there is a crisis and the price of oil increases, they immediately and instantly increase the cost of travel irrespective of the fact that they might have stock piles of cheap fuel They've been getting away with this for yonks and will continue to smugly count the extra revenue gained year after year from the fuel surcharge.

Smid wrote:Always thought Fuel Surcharge was just a mechanism for charging money for reward flights, so its name didn't matter. I doubt it will ever drop when fuel drops...

Is it not a line item on all fare codes and not just reward flights??

Hev60 wrote:However let's be realistic, as soon as there is a crisis and the price of oil increases, they immediately and instantly increase the cost of travel irrespective of the fact that they might have stock piles of cheap fuel They've been getting away with this for yonks and will continue to smugly count the extra revenue gained year after year from the fuel surcharge.

That was kinda my thinking, they didn't really hang around that much before they started to add it to the ticket prices and going back to my reply above, if it is still a seperate line item on the fare then it cannot be a profit making item and should be a simple item to remove.

Just think of the headlines VS could make "NO MORE FUEL SURCHARGE on VS" people would flock to save themselves the costs on these routes!!!

LovingGold wrote:

Smid wrote:Always thought Fuel Surcharge was just a mechanism for charging money for reward flights, so its name didn't matter. I doubt it will ever drop when fuel drops...

Is it not a line item on all fare codes and not just reward flights??

Well, yes, but it forms 90% of a sale economy fare, and you don't hear Virgin advertising that it gets you to the US for 50 quid, like Norweigan might.

In reality, Virgin quotes the full fare including taxes and fuel surcharge. The mechanism makes economy reward flights worthless. It isn't a fuel surcharge it is an "additional cost" named as a fuel surcharge.

LovingGold wrote:

Smid wrote:Always thought Fuel Surcharge was just a

Just think of the headlines VS could make "NO MORE FUEL SURCHARGE on VS" people would flock to save themselves the costs on these routes!!!

They might generate some headlines but it won't reduce the cost of the tickets as they will just put it into the base fare - where it should be in the first place.

As for reward tickets they could just have a 'reward redemption charge' which would be more honest.