Airlines may impose additional charges on passengers, even if they have already purchased their plane ticket.
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These surcharges, which are legal, might be added due to inflation, which notably affects the price of fuel.
If airlines, in full economic recovery following two years of pandemic, seem to refrain from adding these fees, they might soon change their minds.
“At some point, we will have to either continue to lose money or transfer this cost to the price of plane tickets”, analyzes Mehran Ebrahimi, director of the Observatory of Aeronautics and civil aviation, in an interview with TVA Nouvelles.
A decision, however, that is not taken lightly.
“Airlines, especially for tickets sold, do not make these decisions very easily since we know that the impact on customer satisfaction, especially in a recovery situation, especially in a situation of strong competition, is is something very frowned upon by passengers”, explains Mr. Ebrahimi.
Some airlines can afford to keep their airfares low due to fuel price contracts.
“In the air sector, some airlines buy their oil at a fixed price a year in advance, which means that these companies, for the moment, are protected from variations, so they can maintain their ticket. “, reports the director of the observatory.
Fuel surcharges may be added to airline tickets 30 days prior to departure.
It is also possible that a surcharge will be charged 45 days before departure due to the exchange rate.