Airlines cut fuel surcharges — but not to every destination

Fuel prices are down. But airline fuel surcharges aren’t on their way out — unless you’re flying to certain European destinations.

Bestfares.com is reporting that, with the cost of a barrel of oil dropping by as much as 40 percent, some major airlines are cutting fuel surcharges up to 18 percent. Except that airlines operating flights with east coast origination points haven’t cut their fuel surcharges.

As an example, fuel surcharges to London from cities such as Dallas, Los Angeles, and San Francisco dropped from $428 to $366 (17 percent). Destination cities such as Paris, Madrid, Amsterdam and Rome have dropped from $330 to $280, or roughly 18 percent.

Because of a lack of demand to Europe and the ongoing economic crisis in the US and Europe, airlines are hoping that by cutting airfares and fuel surcharges, it will lure travelers back to European destinations.

Will it be enough or will they have to do a lot more? We’ll see.

Tagged as: airlines, Europe, fuel surcharges