Airlines 'mislead' with surcharges

By MATHEW DEARNALEY

Travel agents are accusing airlines of misleading passengers about the true cost of fares through the use of fuel "surcharges".

They say the airlines are leaving it to them to tell bargain-hunters that advertised prices bear even less resemblance to true travel costs now that fuel surcharges have joined other hidden items, including insurance fees and airport taxes.

With the fuel fee, extras have collectively risen to about $185 on a return trip from Auckland to Sydney, adding 55 per cent to the cheapest fares of $338 advertised by Air New Zealand and Qantas.

The airlines introduced fuel charges this month on the back of higher oil prices. Some airlines have promised to remove the surcharges if jet fuel prices ease enough, but Flight Centre managing director Graeme Moore fears they may "eventually get morphed into the fares".

Go Holidays chief executive Bill Mathews said it was ludicrous that added fees threatened to overtake some fares. "I fail to see why the surcharge is not put into the air ticket price as part of a more, how shall I say it, honest way of doing it."

Consumers' Institute chief executive David Russell said he understood Air NZ and Qantas still faced legal action over previous allegations of misleading advertising.

He said Virgin Blue's New Zealand operation was similarly misleading in its promotion of so-called $99 fares from Christchurch to Sydney. "It's simply untrue - you can't fly to Sydney for $99."