Air Line Tickets

By Kheri Chawla

One may find surprises when buying air line tickets as to how many taxes and fees are added to ant travel ticket. There is a base fare that airlines decide to charge a passenger on a particular route depending upon air miles flown among other factors. But on the top of that there are many charges and fees and when add up at times show more than the base fare itself. Travelers have no choice except to pay all these in order to travel. Overbooked flights, long security lines and lost baggage and no frill services are additional headaches.

Air travel is taxing in more ways than passengers can possibly imagine. Travelers are paying a laundry list of taxes, fees and other surcharges often invisible even to the most seasoned traveler.

Perhaps some of you are already aware that our nation's air transit system is financed primarily through federal excise taxes and other special charges that are collected from the airline passengers upon buying air line tickets. A smaller portion comes from airlines and freight carriers in the form of fuel and cargo taxes, and these costs also frequently are passed along to customers.

Here is the list of fees and charges one may be aware of:

1. A 7.5 percent federal levy is attached to every plane ticket. It is collected by the airlines and passed along to the I.R.S that deposits it in the Airport and Airway Trust Fund.

2. A separate Rural Airport Tax of 7.5 percent is assessed on flights that begin or end at rural airports, but those passengers then are exempt from the other ticket tax and the segment tax. Passengers traveling between the continental United States and Alaska or Hawaii pay an additional $7.50 in taxes.

3. The Passenger Flight Segment Tax, currently $3.40, is charged each time a passenger takes off and lands. Passengers on a nonstop may additional segment taxes.

4. Passenger facility charge - A local tax collected by airlines and paid directly to the airport where it's levied. It is charged and largely used for airport construction and other improvements. It might soon go up.

5. International arrival and departure taxes - The current tax is $15.10 per passenger on all flights departing for or arriving from foreign destinations. The fee is tied to the Consumer Price Index and has risen 12.7 percent over the past five years.

6. Security fees for Transportation Security Administration. This was created by Congress after the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks, these fees cost customers $2.50 per boarding, with a $5 maximum per one-way trip, even with multiple segments.

7. Ticketing fee - the online sites or the consolidators may charge ranging from $5 to $30 on rel=nofollow [http://www.optimatickets.com/air-line-tickets.html]air line tickets http://www.optimatickets.com/

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