Flight prices at second glance: what must be in the final price
What Swiss travellers should check with Lufthansa, SWISS and other airlines – and which extras are genuinely voluntary.
At first glance a flight ticket often looks cheaper than it turns out to be in the end. But that is not automatically due to an unlawful surcharge. What matters is which costs are unavoidable and which service travellers choose to buy on top. For offers to customers in Switzerland a clear principle applies: the price actually to be paid must include all unavoidable and foreseeable taxes, fees, surcharges and charges.
This concerns, for example, airport taxes, security fees, fuel surcharges and other price components that cannot be freely chosen. The Federal Office of Civil Aviation requires the total price in advertising; the State Secretariat for Economic Affairs likewise refers to the principle of stating the total price for flight trips bookable online. An airline may break down these mandatory costs in the price details. But it may not add them as an unavoidable surprise at the very end.
Why can the amount still rise during the booking process? Often it is not the same flight price that changes, but the service chosen. Anyone who clicks on a different fare, books extra baggage, reserves a seat or selects travel insurance buys more than the original flight. A paid service for a price guarantee is also a separate offer. Such options should be clearly recognisable and should only be added if travellers consciously select them.
With the Lufthansa Group, an environmental cost surcharge may appear as part of the price details depending on the flight. Lufthansa justifies it with regulatory environmental costs, among other things in connection with sustainable aviation fuel and European emissions trading. The surcharge is therefore not automatically a voluntary climate donation. For a booking, what counts is not solely whether an item carries a technical name, but whether it is unavoidable for that specific trip and is included in the displayed total price.
For Swiss travellers, a quick price check before clicking «Buy» is worthwhile. First they should fix the flight date, route, number of persons and chosen fare. Then a look at the price breakdown belongs to it: what is the flight price, what are taxes and fees, and which items are genuine extras? Anyone paying in a foreign currency should also check the stated reference price in francs, the conversion rate and possible card costs. A surcharge for a particular payment method can only be classified as voluntary if a free alternative customary in Switzerland exists.
The order of the receipts also matters. A screenshot of the chosen connection and the price details before completion helps if the invoice later does not match the confirmed price. After booking, the electronic receipt should be saved. If anything is unclear, a detailed invoice from the airline or travel agency is the first step. If no comprehensible explanation is forthcoming, FOCA refers to the ombudsman of the Swiss travel industry, SECO and – depending on the case – the cantonal authorities.
This is not an invitation to read every price change as a trick. Dynamic fares are common in air transport. Transparency does not mean that a price is guaranteed to stay the same until tomorrow. Transparency means: for the specific trip chosen, travellers must be able to recognise before purchase what they are obliged to pay and what they are consciously deciding to add.