New Aircraft surcharges

A question about : New Aircraft surcharges

Today my travel company contacted me to say that the Ј5,000+ due on a once in lifetime holiday to Borneo for Xmas had to be paid today and not in October as Malaysian Airways intended surcharging our Economy flight Ј510 each from tomorrow to cover extra costs due to ash, fuel costs etc. I had to pay today or it would have been over a Ј1000 more for nothing. Has anybody else had this happen? How can 1 jumbo jet need Ј510 extra per person [Economy] and presumably more for upgrades? x 300+ persons

Best answers:

• Sounds like somebody has a cash flow problem and they are looking for a few wealthy customers to prop them up for a bit. Please make sure you have full and comprehensive travel insurance right now, i am such a drama monger!
  Good luck!
• I would have thought the ash costs would have been considered by the airlines by now and in with the cost of the fare.
  The fuel surchrge may change and would have to be added if the tickets havent been issued yet but surely not by that much.
  I wonder if your agent got the airline ticketing time limit wrong?
  I would call Malaysian airlines and ask them about these extra charges.
• it will depend on exactly how the agent has booked the flight. these days, when booking scheduled airlines, the airlines require full payment immeadiately and therefore once this has been done, the ticket is issued and the fare is then gauranteed (with the exception of certain taxes).
  in some cases, agents can book scheduled flights with just a 'deposit', and whilst it means that the full amount does not need to be paid there and thin, it does not gaurantee the fare. then, if anytime between booking the flight with a deposit and ticketing the flight there is a price increase from the airline, you are liable for the new fare increase or you cancel the flight at loss of deposit. most airlines are quite good, and give you prior warning, others dont.
• Let me clarify as I know exactly what is going on here.
  The first thing is that the companies communication is appalling (name and shame? ). It has nothing to do with Volcanic Ash, or Fuel Surcharging.
  I was aware of the notification. Malaysia Airlines is eliminating all of it's cheaper IT fare classes for departures 11-23 December.
  An IT fare is a Tour Operator Fare that doesn't need to be issued until 30 days before departure (or so, varies airline by airline). However, as the tickets are not issued early it's hard for an airline to judge true load levels, especially over peak periods. So MH stipulated that anyone on cheaper fares for peak departures had to have their tickets issued by 31 August (so your date confuses me), or you would then have to be rebooked at the highest fare categories (with the cheaper fares having been withdrawn). The Ј510 level seems vaguely correct.
  So, it's nothing to do with the companies cash flow, or volcanic ash, or fuel surcharges. Malaysia Airlines advised most companies on 23 August, so your company had one week to advise clients. Sounds like they were rubbish.
  They only needed to collect the amount to cover the flights though, not the entire balance, so they could have helped you out a little bit by doing this. And unless they missed the notification, or it didn't reach them, they should have given you more time.
  It is clearly covered in all Tour Op's T&C's as well (presuming they use standard ABTA T&C - which most companies do, even if they are not members of ABTA).
• veryhandbags reported to Abuse.