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Lastminute.ie: "taxes and fees" in Dubai vs Abu Dhabi

  • 02-04-2013 12:13AM
    #1
    Seanchai
    Closed Accounts Posts: 1,401 ✭✭✭


    Somebody in the travel industry might be able to explain this.

    I'm checking the price of flights to Asia on Skyscanner. Both flights are arranged by Lastminute.ie and have the same destination on the same day, with one going through Dubai and the other through Abu Dhabi.

    The one going through Dubai has: 'Average flight price per person(includes €14.01 taxes and fees)' while the one going through Abu Dhabi has 'includes €133.01 taxes and fees'. This massive difference brought the final price of the latter to €488, and the final price of the former was €484.

    Is is safe to conclude that Abu Dhabi has a much higher tax than Dubai? Or is it that the 'fees' element in 'taxes and fees' are added on by Lastminute.ie which is keeping the difference in taxes for itself and thus eliminating any serious price competition in the process/pulling a fast one on its potential customers?

    Needless to say, on the lastminute.ie website they do not break down the 'taxes and fees' component.


Comments

  • #2
    schemingbohemia
    Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 5,606 ✭✭✭schemingbohemia


    Seanchai wrote: »
    Somebody in the travel industry might be able to explain this.

    I'm checking the price of flights to Asia on Skyscanner. Both flights are arranged by Lastminute.ie and have the same destination on the same day, with one going through Dubai and the other through Abu Dhabi.

    The one going through Dubai has: 'Average flight price per person(includes €14.01 taxes and fees)' while the one going through Abu Dhabi has 'includes €133.01 taxes and fees'. This massive difference brought the final price of the latter to €488, and the final price of the former was €484.

    Is is safe to conclude that Abu Dhabi has a much higher tax than Dubai? Or is it that the 'fees' element in 'taxes and fees' are added on by Lastminute.ie which is keeping the difference in taxes for itself and thus eliminating any serious price competition in the process/pulling a fast one on its potential customers?

    Needless to say, on the lastminute.ie website they do not break down the 'taxes and fees' component.

    What does it matter? The price they're charging is the price they're charging, if you can find a cheaper price pay that instead.


  • #3
    Seanchai
    Closed Accounts Posts: 1,401 ✭✭✭Seanchai


    schemingbohemia wrote: »
    What does it matter? The price they're charging is the price they're charging, if you can find a cheaper price pay that instead.

    1) Why bother responding if you've nothing constructive to add?

    2) It matters because I could A) know that Abu Dhabi has higher airport taxes than Dubai and could watch out for that added cost in future trips or B) be aware of a shady practice on the part of lastminute.com and avoid them. Had I not clicked on a breakdown of prices I would not have realised that "taxes and fees" for going through one destination were 9.5 times greater than going through another. I'm sure other posters would be equally as interested in this.


  • #4
    steve-o
    Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 938 ✭✭✭steve-o


    It has nothing to do with the airport and nothing to do with lastminute. The Taxes and Fees total on a ticket is essentially a random number completely made up by the airline that includes genuine taxes, airport fees, but also includes other much larger imaginary fees imposed by the airline, often called "fuel surcharge" by the airline to make it sound justified. Airlines invent these fees (and then reduce the "base fare" by the same amount) for various reasons that don't really matter here. So schemingbohemia is completely correct. If you are comparing fares, only the total price matters.


  • #5
    Seanchai
    Closed Accounts Posts: 1,401 ✭✭✭Seanchai


    steve-o wrote: »
    It has nothing to do with the airport and nothing to do with lastminute. The Taxes and Fees total on a ticket is essentially a random number completely made up by the airline that includes genuine taxes, airport fees, but also includes other much larger imaginary fees imposed by the airline, often called "fuel surcharge" by the airline to make it sound justified. Airlines invent these fees (and then reduce the "base fare" by the same amount) for various reasons that don't really matter here. So schemingbohemia is completely correct. If you are comparing fares, only the total price matters.

    Clearly it wasn't "essentially a random number" when by adding on "taxes and fees" that are 9.5 times that of its competing flight it brought the new price to €488, a mere €4 more expensive than the other flight. If it were genuinely "random" then this veneer of competition would not exist.


  • #6
    mel.b
    Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 2,920 ✭✭✭mel.b


    You can use ita matrix to get a break down of what the taxes and charges are made up of. I did a random Dub-bkk search amd it appears that Etihad have a fuel surcharge, whereas Emirates do not, so this may account for the difference in the taxes and charges.


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  • #7
    steve-o
    Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 938 ✭✭✭steve-o


    Seanchai wrote: »
    Clearly it wasn't "essentially a random number" when by adding on "taxes and fees" that are 9.5 times that of its competing flight it brought the new price to €488, a mere €4 more expensive than the other flight. If it were genuinely "random" then this veneer of competition would not exist.
    The price is 488. That's the starting point, not the end point. The airline might arbitrarily decide to divide it into 400 fare + 88 taxes/fees. Or they might for their own reasons decide to divide it as 100 fare + 388 taxes/fees. It makes no difference to the price you pay.

    It does however cause some comparison sites to quote misleading prices and screws frequent flyer members when they are spending their hard-earned miles for a "free" flight that has 388 in taxes and fees simply because the airline (deliberately) chose to structure the pricing that way.


  • #8
    Samuri Suicide
    Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 285 ✭✭Samuri Suicide


    In a nutshell, Emirates incorporate their fuel surcharge tax (YQ) into their fare price and Etihad don't. Majority of airlines are the same as Etihad and put their fuel surcharge in their tax amount.

    The taxes are definitely not a random number as was previously suggested. Made me smile though! :)


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