yes they are. Remember Aviatio Fuel is much different to say Petrol or Diesel.

I think all Aviation fuel is bought in US dollars & is exempt from tax, so i think for a uk airline to charge a fuel levy when the exchange rate is also very high is taking advantage.

regards,

Nigel

I've just booked a long haul holiday and had to pay £15 fuel surcharge per person. Bear in mind that aircraft are fuelled on contract, its not like pulling up at a petrol station! Most airlines will have agreed prices/contracts in advance so it may take a while for the figures to adjust. I doubt UK airlines pay in US Dollars as they will be using UK suppliers. Oil and fuel figures maybe published in US dollars but payment is unlikely to be in $US, more likely good old pounds. I agree its a bit mean still having to pay the extra but we don't have much choice. Either pay or don't travel! There is talk of introducing an environmental tax on Jet A1 in the near future of 9%. If this ever comes in (and chances are it will), you'll be paying a bit more than £10 in surcharges!

Darren

Its intresting though that some airline dont charge a surcharge on fuel still, and never have done.

I Hope you understand my maths and reasoning here, if anyone thinks I have gone wrong let me know.

We have all seen these fuel supplements we are now being charged with, Excel is £25 per person Manchester to Dalaman return, with Thomas Cook it is £40 per person, and they both use B757's but are the recharges legit or are we being ripped off?

So I thought I would do some calculations:-

A Boeing 757-200 has a maximum fuel capacity of 43490 litres and a range of 7222Km,

Distance between Manchester and Dalaman is approx 3100Km (see http://www.landings.com/)

Using the above figures I calculate that if the plane runs empty it is averaging 6 Litres per Kilometre, I know there would be a reserve but I haven't included that as i don't know it therefore my calculation is slightly more expensive.

So if we say each leg takes 18600 ltrs this is 37200 ltrs for the return.

At the end of April Aviation fuel was £394 per tonne, see THIS

Jet fuel has a specific gravity between .66 and .88 so as a precuation we take the higher figure, this meansl that one tonne of fuel is equal to 1136 litres, hence the fuel for each trip 16.4 tonnes at £394 per tonne, total cost £6461.

Times the above by two for the return trip and we have £12922 for both legs.

If we now go back to the surcharge and say an average of 200 passengers are on the return flight, Excel passengers are contributing £5000 towards the fuel costs and Thomas Cook it is £8000 or 39% and 62%, reverse engineer these figures to make an increase from last year by using the following

This year fuel is £394/tonne compared to £218/tonne last year, that is an increase of 80.47%, last year both legs would have cost £7150 a difference of £5772

My conclusion, Excel have applied a surcharge that doesn't cover the total cost so they appear to be fair, however thomas Cook have used it to pass on more charges and make an extra £2228 profit, cheak or what

Dave

I think my calc is +/- 10%

i think i understand
but what we also need to know is how much of the total holiday price we pay, minus the added fuel charges, actually goes to the airline to pay for, among other things, the fuel???

Forgive me if i`m wrong but it was`nt that long ago there were NO added fuel charges,
so who covered the cost then.

Loulou

Another question ......

If fuel prices reduce before departure date, does the supplement get refunded ? If not, why not ? Where do our consumer rights stand on this issue ?

I'm often booking 12 - 18 months in advance so now I'm wondering whether to take a gamble and wait till nearer the time to book for next year.

Actually, as I understand it, most of the airlines effectively "book" their fuel and agree a set price for a long period of time (up to a year) - bit like a fixed term mortgage - so the fuel on your flight yesterday was set at the price per gallon applicable last year (not sure if they actually pay up front as well, but I would guess so)

It's some poor chap's job to decide when he can get the best possible price for the coming season (bearing in mind we are talking MILLIONS of gallons) - when an overnight fluctuation in the oil rates will win or lose the company mega-bucks. It's certainly not a stable market to be playing in !!!

Price of aviation fuel today is therefore irrelevent. If the poor chap at Thomas cook in the example above, gambled wrong, that would explain why the XL fuel supp is less. (You will also note that in the next 12 months the XL fuel supp seems to be the same for a specific destination regardless of date of travel, presumably for the same reason).

At least as far as I'm aware, once you have paid your flight/holiday price, with or without a fuel supp, there no longer seems to be a sudden need to pay an additional fuel charge nearer the date of travel - this definitely used to be the case in the 70's/early 80's when you suddenly got an unexpected fuel surcharge bill a matter of a few weeks/days before your holiday

I believe its called "hedging" in the industry...

While Dave's analysis and figures are good, and do give a good insight, there is more to it. Airline pricing structres are very very complex. For example, Excel are part of the Avion Group, includuing Air Atlanta among others. Avion all together have more than 60 aircraft, and I imagine they negtiate their fuel as a group which would give them far more buying power that Thomas Cook with their fleet of 22.

I have to say, I think the whole thing is a rip off! Last September, as a birthday treat for my husband, we booked to go to Zanzibar in June with Thomas Cook. The fuel surcharge quoted on the invoice is a massive £136pp!
I know it's a long way but that's a ridiculous amount.

we get charged £35 pp on every flight we have had from Donny. I think the amount varies between companies.

I believe its called "hedging" in the industry...

While Dave's analysis and figures are good, and do give a good insight, there is more to it. Airline pricing structres are very very complex. For example, Excel are part of the Avion Group, includuing Air Atlanta among others. Avion all together have more than 60 aircraft, and I imagine they negtiate their fuel as a group which would give them far more buying power that Thomas Cook with their fleet of 22.

Thomas Cooks fuel is purchased by Lufthansa for themselves and there subsidarys which include Lufthansa, Condor, Thomas Cook UK & Belgium, Eurowings and Gemanwings, plus i think a few more of there airlines, so you are infact talking about over 300 aircraft.

Hi.
Now that the price of fuel is coming down, when can we expect to see the airlines dropping (or adjusting) the fuel surcharges. Or is that a stupid question!!!

Weetam D,

when can we expect to see the airlines dropping (or adjusting) the fuel surcharges. Or is that a stupid question!!!

You might have answered your own question their! Every flight I've looked at in the near future and for next year includes a fuel surcharge so I'd guess they are here to say. Fuel is purchased a long way in advance, generally on contract so I'd be very surprised if they are reduced for a while yet, if at all.

Darren

Just wondered if you could give me your views as to whether the long haul (particularly to Florida) fuel supplements are likely to reduce , remain , or increase over the next few months ???

I noticed that many carriers still have them in place from last Summer...is there likely to be any change in the foreseeable future ...in theory at least ?!

Your views, qualified or unqualified, would be very much appreciated

BA fined £121.5m by OFT over fuel surcharge price-fixing

British Airways has been fined £121.5m for colluding with other airlines over the price of fuel surcharges on long-haul flights.

The figure has been agreed with the Office of Fair Trading but BA must wait until this afternoon to find out how much it will be fined by the US Department of Justice in relation to the price-fixing.

BA has already put by £350 million for the fines after admitting to the allegations of colluding with Virgin Atlantic at least six times between August 2004 and January 2006. During that time, surcharges rose from £5 to £60 per ticket.

Chief executive, Willie Walsh said: "I want to reassure our passengers that they were not overcharged. Fuel surcharges are a legitimate way of recovering costs.

"However this does not in any way excuse the anti competitive conduct by a very limited number of individuals within British Airways.

"Anti-competitive behaviour is entirely unacceptable and we condemn it unreservedly. "We have a long-standing competition compliance policy which requires all staff to comply with the law at all times.

"I am satisfied that we have the right controls in place. However, it is deeply regrettable that some individuals ignored our policy."

He said Virgin Atlantic and British Airways exchanged information on proposed changes to their respective long-haul passenger fuel surcharges in response to fluctuating oil prices.

But last year Virgin Atlantic went to the OFT and revealed its part in these conversations. As the first applicant under the terms of the OFT's leniency policy, Virgin qualified for conditional immunity and as a result has not been required to pay any penalty.

OFT fines could be up to 10% a company's worldwide turnover, but this one represents just over 1% of BA's group turnover.

When the allegations were first made, BA commercial director Martin George and communications chief Iain Burns went on leave of absence. Last October, they both quit.

The OFT and DoJ continue with their criminal investigation into the conduct of individuals.

With permission From Travelmole

BA fined another £148m by the US

British Airways has been fined another £148 million by the US Department of Justice for colluding on fuel surcharges.

In total, it is now having to pay out just under £270m after receiving a £121.5 million fine from the Office of Fair Trading earlier today.


With permission from Travelmole

The discrepancies between what airlines charge for taxes etc. is amazing. On flights to Tunisia Airtours add on a total of £105, whereas Thomsons add just under £52. I would like to fly with Airtours as they go from Stansted but that is ridiculous.