Cathay Pacific Drops Fuel Surcharges

Unless you’ve been on the moon, you should have noticed gas prices dwindling downwards lately. The reason: simple economics- high supply, low demand. Of course, there are other factors at hand also, but we could go on and on about those, so we wont.  So what does this mean for you? Obviously, you will save more at the pump, which means you will have more money, which means you will upgrade your grande, to a venti flat white, and also take that trip to Asia you’ve put on the back burner.  You will do this because some of the carriers have reduced dropped that annoying, pesky, rock in my shoe, fuel surcharge.  The reduced fares will probably continue through 2016, so that summer trip to Europe flying British Airways, just may be all around affordable this time.

Flights originating from Hong Kong have NO fuel surcharges effective today. Most of the Asian carriers, such as Cathay Pacific, Malaysia Airlines, and Firefly have followed suit.  I was happy to hear that ANA dropped fuel surcharges for flights originating outside Japan, earlier in 2015.

However, there are some that have not, such as Japan Airlines, Singapore Airlines, Garuda Indonesia.  Emirates, which is not an Asian carrier also didn’t drop, but it has a huge presence in Asia, and I’m  betting under pressure, they may reduce them to compete in this market.

With oil prices so low, don’t bet the infamous fuel surcharge will fizzle away.  It’s just another way to add on fees, and to increase profits for the airlines.  Remember, the reason they started charging baggage fees, was to compensate for the so called “excessive weight” the planes had to endure, which meant more fuel. However, this claim was not I still see baggage fees when booking flights, and will continue to do so throughout 2016.  At the end though, look for cheaper fares in a lot of markets, which essentially means you’ll be paying less.  More money to splurge at the hotel restaurant. Happy Travels.