Friday, February 4, 2011

Up, Up & Away

British Airways has increased its fuel surcharge for the second time in two months, meaning that a family of four have to pay a £704 on a return long-haul economy flight.

Erm, why do the press insist on using extended examples to make their headlines more shocking?  Don't worry, that's rhetorical, but why a family of four?  Is that even still the norm with so many divorced couples?  Why not just quote how much it affects just one flyer?  But I digress...

The £12 increase in fuel surcharges (or an extra £24 on a return flight, no shit) follows a £10 increase that BA introduced in December.  The company's fuel surcharges are only a small amount below the peak they hit when global oil prices escalated to their record levels of $147 a barrel, reached in 2008.  Last week oil broke through the $100 a barrel level for the first time in over two years.

From 8th February, the total surcharge for BA economy class flights lasting longer than nine hours will rise from £76 per person per flight to £88; for flights less than nine hours, including to places such as Dubai or New York, it will rise from £63 to £75 for each leg of the journey. 

And continuing the four member family scenario to massage offer the worst figures, these charges, equating to £704 for a return long-haul flight for a family of four, come on top of Air Passenger Duty, which now totals £340 for four travelling to Australia or parts of Asia.

I suggest you do what we intend to do when we fly back out to Asia.  Take the Eurostar, ferry or coach from the UK and have a Parisian night over or two before flying long haul to KL and then onto your chosen destination. France does not charge APD- yet.

More at TTel.

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