Airline ticket agents 'shout' prices, urge customers to buy early

New fees and service prices after October 1st will only increase by about 30,000 VND, but some airline ticket agents have urged customers to buy early to avoid tickets increasing by several hundred thousand VND.

Agents said that there will be an upcoming increase in taxes and airport fees, so airfares will all increase, commonly by 100,000 - 150,000 VND per ticket.

The increase in fees and aviation service prices that this agent mentioned is that after October 1, the Ministry of Transport will officially increase the prices of some security services and passenger services at the airport according to the roadmap until the end of 2018.

Specifically, after October 1, passengers will have to pay an additional 1,700 VND for aviation security services (checking and scanning luggage), and an additional 5,000 VND for passenger service fees on domestic flights.

For international flights, passengers will have to pay an additional 0.5 USD (11,000 VND) for aviation security services. Passenger service fees remain the same at the two major airports of Noi Bai and Tan Son Nhat, increasing by 4 USD at Da Nang airport and 6 USD at Cat Bi and Vinh airports because these are newly invested and upgraded airports.

In addition, the airline also has to pay an additional 5% increase in landing and take-off service prices (an increase of about 300,000 VND for an aircraft with more than 300 seats).

However, according to the airline representative, the airline only plays the role of collecting this fee on behalf of the airport, so if divided per person, it would be equivalent to passengers paying an additional 1,000 - 2,000 VND for landing and take-off costs.

Thus, after October 1, the increase in fees and air service prices will only cause customers to pay an additional VND8,000 to VND14,000 for flights to and from airports such as Noi Bai or Tan Son Nhat. Even by the end of the price increase, on July 1, 2018, each passenger will only have to pay an additional VND30,385.

For trips to and from Da Nang, Cat Bi, Vinh airports, fees and new service prices have increased significantly by about 100,000-140,000 VND per passenger.

However, many agents have taken advantage of this increase in fees and airline service prices to urge customers to book tickets early or even raise ticket prices.

Regarding the price increase of some services, Mr. Lai Xuan Thanh, Chairman of the Board of Directors of Vietnam Airports Corporation (ACV), previously said that the price increase of some specialized aviation services will have little impact on ticket prices.

According to VNN