European Airlines- High Taxes?

I get a lot of sale notices from both major and discount airlines, both European and American and I have stopped holding my breath trying to find good fares with the major European ones. I subscribe to Lufthansa, Air France and Iberia and every time I get one of their notices which advertise low fares, I say to myself “Here we go again”.

Lufthansa recently sent me a flyer with rates “as low as $261 to Milan” and of course they don’t mention that it’s one way based on a round trip purchase(but that has been a given, although a slightly dishonest one because it isn’t $261, it’s $522 right off the bat!). I went to the site and look for the lowest fare and put in my dates within the parameters that they outlined. The lowest fare that came up was $1106 and when I went through the booking process I ended up with $469.72 in taxes and a total fare of $1114.72. That is a far cry from the $261 round trip that was advertised.

The problem with European airlines is that they have incredibly high taxes(sometimes even over 100% of the fare itself). The US Airlines usually have something below $200 in taxes which makes the final fare a lot lower. You will also have the same problem if you try to book a USAirline flight that originates in Europe- super high taxes will be added to the basic fare!

I’ve actually been checking the European Airlines for years and have never flown with them because their rates are high. Actually that is not true, Delta has a codeshare with Air France so I’ve purchased Delta tickets and flown on a plane that said “Air France” on it for a reasonable fare… so your best bet is to look at the USAirlines first if you want to get the best fares!

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