Recently, there has been a lot of publicity about the push to have all of the taxes and fees included in the airline fares and advertising. I disagree completely with this agenda.
It is not the airlines that are imposing all of these extra costs. It is government and various other agencies that are in control of these fees.
To hide all of these costs in the price of the airfare would then shift the blames for the high cost directly on to the airline.
When you look at the cost of a one-way flight, especially a short-haul flight, you can see the ridiculous amount being charged for all the fees which are not going into the airlines’ pockets.
For example, look at a flight from Kelowna to Vancouver when there is a seat sale. The fare is $84. There are four separate taxes and fees totaling $44.93. This is 53.5 per cent of the cost of the fare. Of course, on longer, more expensive flights, that percentage goes down but the cost of fees remains very high.
What I cannot understand is that no one seems to be complaining about this. I know we are all paying a price for 9/11 but who is regulating all of these added costs? Incidentally, the U.S. taxes and fees are a fraction of what Canadians are paying for air travel.
What if the government charged a flat tax of $3,600 when a person buys a $30,000 vehicle (equals 12 per cent HST) and also charged the same $3,600 when someone buys a $5,000 or $1000 vehicle? There would be outrage.
So why is there no reaction from the flying public in regards to these scandalous airport fees and taxes? The government needs to take the blame as it is the regulator for the various agencies that are collecting all these extra fees.
Ultimately, the public has the power to put pressure on the regulators to change the system so that it is more fair and reasonable.
Loren Enns, Vernon
