DaveC,
To be honest, i had no idea how much you Canadians were/are being screwed on your airfares, but i sure do now!! hahaha!! So yeah, i can understand clearly now what both you and mustfocus are saying....
About the taxes thing, They normally state ''taxes fee's and surcharges'' apart from the standard airport fee, the rest are just money making exercises, and any excuse will raise the cost or add a new dimension to the extra costs.
Take security, ....surely that should be part of the Airport fee, what are they talking about ''extra security??'' Security is what ever it takes to make the airport and the flights as secure as reasonably acceptable. Not charge every passenger every time they change the criteria.
Fuel surcharges ....Airlines/airports use the futures markets, and buy months in advance and base there fares and fees accordingly...this is just another money maker, nothing more.
Taxes.... This is where the governments want to get in on the act of gleaning money out of the passengers, and the latest one is the carbon tax, which is a total scam, as they already have taken there cut out of the fuel costs, so having taxed the fuel, they are now taxing you for actually using the fuel!!! All this, as the aircraft of today are getting more and more efficient in just about every way. Even the new A380 is more efficient than the first 747's, but were still getting shafted for flying....
On top of all these your now getting conned into paying for E Tickets, which amounts to a computer printout. What about the savings these airlines have made by not issuing a full regular ticket??? Your being charged for saving them money for god's sake !!! Now there dreaming up even more ridiculous charges on some airlines, like Seat booking, flight meals/refreshments, and some think that your baggage should be an extra too!!
To give an example of just how crazy this is going, .... a recent search on a flight from UK to HK the Taxes, fee's and surcharges came to 5 GBP, MORE than the airfare itself!!!!!!
Just remember, 10 years ago there was little to none of this crap, what's it gonna be like in 10 years time? lol!!!
David...