YYZ-GTTA raises passenger fees

[Kip Powick]

Disregard...already posted......shuda read further down the page

[Dropzone]

Kipper

I have almost completely given up on using passes for travel because of all the ridiculous fees and taxes and inherent frustrations. Been using KBUF for almost a year now instead of YYZ and found the total experience of personal travel much more fun and in some cases cheaper than a pass......and a CONFIRMED seat to boot.

[Thebean]

Ryanair, Dublin battle over capacity cuts, charges

Friday February 13, 2009 Ryanair continued its campaign against uncooperative authorities yesterday, announcing a summer capacity cut at Dublin that the LCC is blaming on "high and rising charges" at the airport and the Irish government's €10 ($12.91) "tourist tax" scheduled to be imposed from March 30.

Last week, Ryanair said it would reduce the number of based aircraft and routes at Shannon owing to the tax, which it said will "decimate traffic and tourism" (ATWOnline, Feb. 6).

Its cuts at DUB, where it is the largest airline, will be significant: It will reduce the number of based aircraft to 18 from 22, the number of weekly rotations by 18% to fewer than 600 and the number of annual passengers by 20% to 8.7 million. It did not appear that any routes would be cancelled entirely. The moves will result in 200 job losses and may be just the beginning. "Further cuts in Ryanair's Dublin winter schedule will be announced later," it said.

"The combination of [Dublin's] high costs and awful facilities has already created a traffic collapse at Dublin Airport this winter," Ryanair CEO Michael O'Leary said, citing a 9% year-over-year decline in December throughput. "This travel tax, when introduced, will exacerbate the traffic decline at Dublin." He said the cuts at both DUB and SNN will be called off if the government repeals the tax.

The Dublin Airport Authority reacted angrily to the announcement, calling it a "publicity stunt." It argued that the December passenger decline "is directly related to the global economic downturn" and claimed that DUB "has the lowest passenger charge of any major airport in Europe." It cited IATA data indicating that DUB's 2008 traffic rose 1% compared to the average 2.7% decrease across Europe.

Further, it said that Ryanair "has opposed every single development aimed at improving the passenger experience" at DUB while since 2006 the LCC has increased its baggage check-in charges by 600%, the credit card booking fee by 285% and the change fee by 66%. "DAA's three Irish airports will not receive a single cent from the new tax and will continue to be funded from passenger charges, commercial income and borrowings," DAA said.

[Fido]

....The Dublin Airport Authority reacted angrily to the announcement, calling it a "publicity stunt."....

The people in Europe should be used to this by now. Most of what Ryanair, Easyjet and Virgin do is a publicity stunt.