Travelers to Europe this year are discovering unwelcome ride-alongs: new and heftier surcharges for flights and cruises. They may even pay more to get to their U.S. gateway airport. Blame the rising price of oil, driven by widening world demand and Mideast turmoil, for much of this pain.
In the last few months, British Airways has twice raised its fuel surcharges, and other European carriers also have raised theirs. Some cruise lines are adding or increasing daily fuel supplements. In the U.S., cabbies are clamoring for higher fares, and cash-strapped governments are charging more to ride local transit.
"A fuel surcharge is a fancy way of making an airfare hike," said Rick Seaney, chief executive of the travel website FareCompare.com. U.S. regulations require airlines to include any such surcharge in the advertised fare.
"Summer airfares to Europe are running as high as I've seen in four or five years," Seaney said, with Dallas-Paris round trips, for instance, going "in the high $1,800s."
Fuel surcharges for trans-Atlantic trips can run into the hundreds. Depending on the flight, the surcharge can be higher than the base fare. A Los Angeles-London round trip in April, recently priced on British Airways' website, totaled $738, including the $243 base fare, $276 fuel surcharge and $219 in taxes and fees.
What to do?
"The best strategy for a consumer is to play the seasonal pricing game," Seaney said. "Try to go off the beaten path."
Trans-Atlantic fares usually stay low for flights through March or April before zooming upward in late spring and summer, the peak travel times, he said.
