Comments on: Smart Shopper Tip: Be Sure to Understand the Total Cost of Airfare

By: audrey

audrey — Mon, 15 Sep 2008 02:16:10 +0000

I ‘m enjoying your articles. I am shopping for airfare to Europe this June.. looks like prices are double what they were last year. With rising airfares, is it smarter to book now, or wait until it is closer ( 4 to 5 months) before departure?And what do you know about Orbitz’ price assurance policy? thanks!

By: Blake Nellis

Blake Nellis — Thu, 01 May 2008 13:36:44 +0000

is there any possibility of airfare rates from Green Bay, WI to Brussels, Belgium to decrease in the next 6 months?

depressed by fuel prices,
Blake

By: Herb

Herb — Thu, 03 Apr 2008 14:58:15 +0000

This is so obvious this article is almost pointless. What passenger still thinks you pay for the flight alone?

In addition I would hope that anybody booking a ticket would realize at some point that their total charges will be higher than the price of the ticket.

By: Sharon Moore

Sharon Moore — Thu, 03 Apr 2008 07:31:48 +0000

Hi Rick…enjoy reading your column….as a ‘wanna be’ I am constantly looking for deals even tho I am going nowhere….have yet to find that one all time great once in a lifetime journey….your column has some great and intersting information but I have found that most of this is based on return airfares and there is not much information on one way fares. I realize that the greater population does travel return but there is the odd one of us out there that sometimes require a one way ticket as is the case of my husband and myself looking for the best fare back to Edmonton from London after doing a 2 year contract job in Wales. Can you advise what would be the way to find a decent fare and when to look for a cheaper fares? Many thanks and thank you for sharing your flying knowledge. Have a great day!

By: Rick Seaney

Rick Seaney — Thu, 27 Mar 2008 21:08:00 +0000

Kat,

I forgot to post the united.com screen shot of the deal and yes it is still a really good deal for summer but the taxes and fees are almost as much as the base fare which is a trend that everyone needs to know about.

Cheers,

Rick

By: Rick Seaney

Rick Seaney — Thu, 27 Mar 2008 21:00:08 +0000

Kevin,

We continue to work on all our tools and international has become difficult to keep up with estimated taxes and fuel surcharges on typical routes. We continue to work on it and should have a wave of new fixes in the next month or so.

Thanks for your patience,

Rick

By: Kat

Kat — Thu, 27 Mar 2008 16:18:49 +0000

Although it doesn’t look like a good deal when you add on all the taxes, wouldn’t you still be paying that amount of tax with the $900 rate to begin with? Therefore the deal of paying $797 vs. $1209 really is a great deal!!

By: kevin whited

kevin whited — Tue, 25 Mar 2008 16:09:34 +0000

** At FareCompare, we always show you prices that include the estimated taxes, fees and surcharges, based on the most common routes. **

I’ve posted this comment on this blog before and I guess I’ll post it again — unfortunately, that just does not always seem to be true, at least with some carriers.

For example, take this breakdown of intl fares from IAH on CO:

Houston, Continental

Now, compare it to this breakdown of intl fares from IAH on NW:

Houston, Northwest

Those NW fares look great!

Until you start breaking them down on booking engines, and then you discover that those fares aren’t really bookable, and that FareCompare apparently isn’t capturing some of the fees/surcharges, and that the total amount is actually in line with what CO is offering!

It would be great if FareCompare could address this problem. Once upon a time, FareCompare was capturing the total price pretty accurately, which made it a GREAT service (and it’s still a great service, but with caveats now). It’s misleading to suggest that it’s still the case, at least for some intl fares from IAH on some carriers.