Demystifying your ticket - taxes, fees, charges, et al
A typical ticket issued by an Indian airline can be quite confusing, given that the base fare is often just a fraction of the total ticket price. This is particularly true of some airlines, which lump in all the base fares and charges into one single value. Also, some airlines (like Jet Airways) will show you the entire ticket price in the search results, like this:
(though the break down is less than helpful):
However, the final pricing is clear - if you check the radio button next to the fare, that's what you're eventually paying for.
Just remember that on Jet, they automatically add travel insurance - be sure you select "No", if you don't want the insurance.
Others, like Indigo, go all out to confuse you:
A Re 1 base fare ticket, for a round trip (that's Rs 2 total), translates to ta total fare of Rs 9,326. What's worse, is this:
And contrary to logic, round-trip fares on Indigo actually cost more than 2 one-way fares! Anyway, that's an off-topic rant.
So, the fees and charges. The reason airlines bucket much of these with the base fare, is so that they can play around a bit with the fare buckets they release, and if you're a casual flier (which most Indian fliers are) you'll never know the breakdown. So, here's what you should be looking at:
Base fare: This is the published base fare of a ticket. This varies by fare class, and so they start at being a relatively small portion of the total ticket price. A ticket booked 90 days in advance will normally have very low base fares (often, under Rs 200). Base fare lists often remain unchanged for long periods of time (months).
YQ charges: This is the fuel surcharge. This could vary depending on the market prices of ATF.
YR charges: This is a service charge that you pay - presumably for the benefit of making a booking. Airlines call this by different names. Jet refers to it a service charges, while Indigo calls it a CUTE fees! (NOT!)
WO and IN fees: This is a passenger service fee - essentially, a fee for using the airport. Remember, that this relates to the airport of arrival, and not departure. WO fees are paid when the arrival airport is operated by the Airports Authority of India (eg, MAA, COK, PNQ, CCU), and IN fees apply where the arrival airport is privately owned (eg, DEL, BOM, HYD, BLR).
JN tax: This is service tax. Under Indian tax laws, all services are taxable, albeit the amount or % of tax you pay differs. You can expect to pay around 4.12% of the value of all services, as service tax. However, YQ charges don't count as services, so you don't pay JN tax on that, which is a big saving grace! Some airlines will price out the JN component of the fare separately, whereas others like Indigo include the service tax along with the cost of the service component (so you don't see JN separately on Indigo tickets).
Convenience fees: Some airlines like Jet will also charge you a convenience fee, depending on your sector (domestic / international) and class of travel (economy / business / first). This will not be priced with the ticket, but will be billed to you.
Airlines are required to publish their base fares and YQ taxes, so you'll find these on their website (thought they can be difficult to locate, sometimes). It is unusual to find any other charges on tickets, but even the ones that are charged are often confusing enough. I do hope this post helps a little bit towards demystifying this fog!
(though the break down is less than helpful):
However, the final pricing is clear - if you check the radio button next to the fare, that's what you're eventually paying for.
Just remember that on Jet, they automatically add travel insurance - be sure you select "No", if you don't want the insurance.
Others, like Indigo, go all out to confuse you:
A Re 1 base fare ticket, for a round trip (that's Rs 2 total), translates to ta total fare of Rs 9,326. What's worse, is this:
And contrary to logic, round-trip fares on Indigo actually cost more than 2 one-way fares! Anyway, that's an off-topic rant.
So, the fees and charges. The reason airlines bucket much of these with the base fare, is so that they can play around a bit with the fare buckets they release, and if you're a casual flier (which most Indian fliers are) you'll never know the breakdown. So, here's what you should be looking at:
Base fare: This is the published base fare of a ticket. This varies by fare class, and so they start at being a relatively small portion of the total ticket price. A ticket booked 90 days in advance will normally have very low base fares (often, under Rs 200). Base fare lists often remain unchanged for long periods of time (months).
YQ charges: This is the fuel surcharge. This could vary depending on the market prices of ATF.
YR charges: This is a service charge that you pay - presumably for the benefit of making a booking. Airlines call this by different names. Jet refers to it a service charges, while Indigo calls it a CUTE fees! (NOT!)
WO and IN fees: This is a passenger service fee - essentially, a fee for using the airport. Remember, that this relates to the airport of arrival, and not departure. WO fees are paid when the arrival airport is operated by the Airports Authority of India (eg, MAA, COK, PNQ, CCU), and IN fees apply where the arrival airport is privately owned (eg, DEL, BOM, HYD, BLR).
JN tax: This is service tax. Under Indian tax laws, all services are taxable, albeit the amount or % of tax you pay differs. You can expect to pay around 4.12% of the value of all services, as service tax. However, YQ charges don't count as services, so you don't pay JN tax on that, which is a big saving grace! Some airlines will price out the JN component of the fare separately, whereas others like Indigo include the service tax along with the cost of the service component (so you don't see JN separately on Indigo tickets).
Convenience fees: Some airlines like Jet will also charge you a convenience fee, depending on your sector (domestic / international) and class of travel (economy / business / first). This will not be priced with the ticket, but will be billed to you.
Airlines are required to publish their base fares and YQ taxes, so you'll find these on their website (thought they can be difficult to locate, sometimes). It is unusual to find any other charges on tickets, but even the ones that are charged are often confusing enough. I do hope this post helps a little bit towards demystifying this fog!
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