A European airline is charging passengers extra fuel fees after tickets are booked, raising concerns about transparency and traveler rights.
A European low-cost airline is coming under fire for charging passengers an additional fuel surcharge—even after they have confirmed seats and paid for a ticket on the flight.
The Spanish airline Volotea is adding a fuel surcharge ahead of travel for already ticketed passengers because of a significant increase in jet fuel costs related to the Iran War’s closure of the Strait of Hormuz.
The surcharge is in line with the airline’s Fair Price Promise, which passengers are made aware of at the time they purchase their ticket. “In exceptional events [that] significantly affect fuel prices, such as the current situation in the Middle East, we may apply limited and proportionate adjustments to ticket prices to reflect changes in fuel costs,” reads the Promise.
Volotea says the review the market fuel price 7 days before the flight, and will either add a surcharge or refund passengers the difference if fuel prices significantly drop. Passengers will be notified via e-mail of the adjustment to their ticket and given a link to provide payment. If they disagree with the surcharge, they can cancel their ticket and use the value for a later flight.
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The airline also publishes a table showing the formula for such adjustments. Fluctuations in fuel prices can result in additional charges or refunds of up to €14. If fuel prices are similar to when the passenger purchased the ticket, there won’t be any change either way. The airline also says that in the event fuel costs spike beyond the parameters of the table, it will cap any additional collection at €14 and cover the difference themselves.
Passengers who bought their tickets before March 16, when the airline made the change in their General Conditions of Carriage, will not be charged, as they would not have been notified of the possibility of the last-minute price increase at the time of their original purchase.
In addition to the Fair Price Promise, the airline is taking into account the uncertainty of many travelers. They’re also applying their Flex service to all tickets bought, allowing passengers to change or cancel without penalty up to 4 hours prior to the scheduled departure of their flight.
Volotea says the measure is expected to be temporary, “intended only for extraordinary and infrequent situations that affect the global energy market, such as the current situation in the Middle East.”
An airline cannot typically charge more to cover increased fuel costs without informing the consumer of that possibility. Airfares are typically based on economic models that predict buyer behavior, and are designed to maximize the number of passengers buying seats on any given flight—airlines generally attempt to get the most revenue possible onboard a flight regardless of projections on how much the flight will cost to operate.
Many other airlines in North America and Europe add fuel surcharges to flights to cover their additional fuel bills, but those surcharges are added at the time of ticketing, not at a pre-set interval before the flight actually operates. Airlines apply fuel surcharges speculatively, based on their projections of what their fuel costs will be by the time the flight departs.
Consumer protection regulations in the U.S., Canada, and Europe generally also require that the full price of an airline fare be disclosed to passengers early in the booking process, without tacking on the additional taxes or surcharges at the end.
Volotea operates a fleet of Airbus aircraft on TK routes in Europe and North Africa, with operational bases in Spain, France, and Italy. The airline connects 110 cities in 17 countries on some 430 nonstop routes, more than half of which are only operated nonstop by Volotea.