Can Airlines Add a Fuel Surcharge After You Book?
There is a lot going on right now, and so much of it has to do with the talk of oil, including jet fuel, so Jenn wanted to know – can airlines add a fuel surcharge once you have already bought your ticket?
Tune in to find out, but one thing we do know for sure is that airline prices and fees are rising, and while it is unfortunate, it is also a reality.
If you have summer or fall travel plans, you may want to seriously consider booking your flights as soon as possible and tune in to find out if your ticket is safe from extra charges once you have already booked.
Podcast Transcript
Jenn: [00:00:00] Hello everyone and welcome back to Travel Tip Tuesday with the Travel Mug Podcast. So like many of us, I'm sure, I have been watching gas prices get more and more expensive. And of course, of course it is affecting the airlines too. And unfortunately we do still rely on fuel to fly. So flights are getting more expensive and airlines are canceling, uh, flights that are undersold or routes that aren't as profitable. So for instance, Air Canada has paused flights between Toronto and Montreal, or some flights between Toronto and Montreal to, um, JFK in New York as they have other routes to LaGuardia and Newark airports that service the same area.
I recently booked flights to Calgary, and even though they were a bit more than I wanted to pay, I wanted to lock in the price in [00:01:00] case, uh, they went up. So I booked 'em and my grandfather asked me like, can they add a fuel surcharge after the fact? Which I was like, I don't think so, but now I need to check on this. I Googled and here we are. So not to worry. Once you've booked and paid for your ticket, the airline cannot charge you more. Thank goodness. Thank goodness.
If your flight is canceled by the airline, such as the situation where they're reducing the number of flights, et cetera, the airline has to rebook you free of charge or offer you a refund so they can't rebook you on another flight and make you pay the you know, difference or something like
Meggan: Right.
Jenn: But in case you haven't booked, many airlines, at least here in Canada, are adding temporary fuel surcharges on redemption bookings and flights are just more expensive in general to make up for these costs. And like we said, some, uh, airlines are reducing the amount of flights everywhere else. So if you're planning to [00:02:00] fly this year, I would book soon, uh, or change your plans if flights are outside your budget. What are your thoughts, Meggan?
Meggan: Yeah. And I'm sure if the airlines could, um, charge you back, they would like, if they could, they would,
Jenn: A hundred percent they would.
Meggan: but thankfully they have. I really do think that. You know, it's a shame and I think that people do, if they are going to do it, they should do it soon. And you're right, you might even have to pay more if you waited for a seat sale, but like, is your seat sale going to be more than what you might have to pay right now?
Jenn: Yeah. It's
Meggan: That's,
Jenn: it's a fun game to play.
Meggan: that's the question. So yeah, like it's, it's unfortunate, but it is also where we're at and sadly we don't get to control that. So yeah, I would just say change your plans or get to booking.
Jenn: Yeah, yeah, yeah. That is all we have for this week's travel tip tuesday, the busy summer travel season is coming or already started, really. [00:03:00] So may the odds be ever in your favor really, uh, on whether your flight gets canceled or not. Um, you can always find us on social media at Travel Mug Podcast and on our website travel mug podcast.com.
You can support the show through buy Me a coffee, where you'll get episode teasers and bloopers, even though we're perfect and we never make any mistakes.
Meggan: That's right.
Jenn: and until next time. Bye everyone.
Meggan: Bye.