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Reduced Taxes on Airline Tickets

by on July 23, 2011 · 21 comments

in Travel Industry

I have to be honest, I haven’t been closely following the drama in Washington over the budget, but I did read an interesting blog post from Gary at View from the Wing about the the possibility of less taxes being collected on airline tickets. And as of today, fewer government taxes on airline tickets, which is great news to consumers.

I can vouch for this firsthand, because yesterday I booked two domestic airline tickets on delta.com and the the fee breakdown was:

Fare:        442.79 USD
Tax:          43.91 TX
Total:       486.70 USD

The same exact itinerary today:

Fare:        433.49 USD
Tax:           7.00 TX
Total:       440.49 USD

Luckily Delta allows 24 hour risk-free cancellations, so I re-booked the itinerary at the lower rate (plus the fare dropped – whether that was due to the tax implications, I do not know) and then canceled my more expensive itinerary, saving me $92.42. Not bad!

If you are in the market for airline tickets, today could be a good day to make your bookings and take advantage of these savings. I’m not sure what the savings would be on an international ticket, but saving 10% was a nice little bonus for me since fares have been sky-high this summer!

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  • Cory

    Was researching this last night and booked a flight, but it ended up being the same price as it would’ve been otherwise. Thankfully, thanks to your post, I decided to re-check my itinerary and voila….no taxes. Sweet.

  • Shuji Igushi

    Saved $51 on a flight I booked yesterday. Was even able to get a confirmed upgrade to NC using one of my CR1′s on a PS flight. Thanks TPG.

  • Megan

    Shoot! I booked a flight yesterday, too, but missed the 24 hr Delta window by about 2 hours. Oh well, the difference was only $36, but it’s still disappointing!

  • Jasher926

    I checked on AA.com today for some flights I was tracking this past week. Yes, the tax has gone down, but it seems American anticipated this and raised fares by the exact difference!

  • Anonymous

    Megan- you have until midnight today to cancel a ticket you bought yesterday so you still have time!

  • Megan

    Awesome news – thank you!!

  • Dewhit6959

    Delta LAX-Haneda is available for Sept 2nd (2230-Tokoyo) outbound and Sept6th inbound (5th Pm LAX) for $2833.00 Business Elite, All In. Taxes are $47.00 Triple mile bonus + first bonus. >.005 per mile
    E class r/t , Sept 5th return is pricing $799. including 49.00 tax. No bonus miles

  • Jamie

    Saved $36 per person for 3 people on Delta. Thanks!

  • http://twitter.com/RyanMcManimie Ryan McManimie

    Same here. Bought a Delta ticket last night. $178 + $33 in taxes. Cancelled this morning. Booked same flight for $178 + $12 in taxes.

  • Jasher926
  • Cassie Schmitt

    Some background info and explanations: http://www.wlsam.com/Article.asp?id=2244248&spid=
    Not sure how accurate information is, but should be interesting to see how it all plays out regarding taxes at time of travel v. time of purchase.

  • Anonymous

    Bought a ticket on DL for $370. Came back today and same ticket 20 hours later is $386! Eh?

  • Varun

    Yes I agree. I was tracking flights to India and AA did raise the difference to the Base fare! Of course I still went ahead and bought it because I’m sucked in as a AA freq flier.

  • Raj B

    DL’s prices are back up to their original levels. I bought a ticket earlier today, and saved about $50. Just checked and the fare has increased — now the same as it was last week.

  • Lrluis

    Some airlines *AHEM* SOUTHWEST *AHEM* decided to raise fares at midnight instead of passing thesavings onto the consumer.

  • Points Guy Fan

    On Saturday, 7/23/11, I purchased a ticket EWR-HKG, in November on Continental. The taxes saved a few dollars (about $100). However, my main reason for purchasing early is fears about the dollar. If the dollar declines, then oil prices in dollars rise. Relatedly, jet fuel, and airline ticket prices also rise. In previous years, I would have waited to purchase until September, hoping to obtain lower airline ticket prices.

  • RebookedCAM

    I cancelled my first booked trip to Tokyo over Labor Day weekend on Delta because they changed the flight departure by over 18 hours!
    Full refund was given to me.

    I re-booked 3 days ago on Friday directly with Delta. During the night I awoke and realized I should’ve booked through American Express to get the rewards points ! DUH!!

    Saturday morning I looked up the same Delta itinerary on AMEX TRAVEL (LAX to HND) and found that 2 tickets RNDTRP would be about $230 dollars less then the day before!!

    I made use of the 24 hour cancellation policy at Delta and re-booked with American Express travel.
    But it made me wonder all day why Delta tried to charge me more for booking directly with them.

    This blog explains everything, once again. Heading to TOKYO in November for 5 nights.

    THANKS TPG!!

  • Anonymous

    Nicely done!

  • RakSiam

    ABC News reported tonight that the airlines had raised fares so they can pocket the difference in the taxes not being collected. Maybe they are worried that the government will try to collect the taxes retroactively? Or maybe they are just the biggest bunch of a-holes in the world.

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