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On March 23, Porter raised the fuel surcharge on all VIPorter redemptions to $40 one-way. Exactly 3 months later, on June 23, Porter reduced the fuel surcharge to $20. Credit where credit is due, this is a great change to see.
The initial increase was intended to offset the rise in global fuel prices and was applied to all award bookings. The idea was that, with this increased fee, Porter would not need to raise the number of points required per redemption.
Most importantly, Porter had always reported it as “temporary”, even if I had personal doubts whether it really would decrease, should oil prices stabilize. Back in March, Porter did not provide any benchmarks. Mostly, I have trouble imagining airlines giving up extra revenue once customers have been shown to absorb the increased costs. But Porter really did cut it in half 3 months later!
It’s now labelled “Air transportation charges” instead of “Peak surcharge”
What’s really interesting is the way the fee is applied. When it was first rolled out, it was displayed as “Peak surcharge”, as you can see from the screenshot below.
One-way Peak Surcharge for YYZ-YVR
When searching the same flight today, the “Peak surcharge” is gone, while “Air transportation charges” are $20 more.
The “Air transportation charges” is $20 higher, while “Peak surcharge” is removed
It’s the same case with a flight from Toronto to Boston.
One-Way Peak Surcharge YTZ-BOS
The “Air transportation charges” is $20 higher, while Peak Surcharge is removed
What’s interesting is despite the fuel surcharge decreasing $20, the overall taxes & fees only went down by $6. Most fees went up a little, which I had presumed was due to the current weaker Canadian dollar, but the “Airport Improvement Fee Deposit” increased from $29 to $45.20. As these are standard government taxes, it must be that many airports across Canada increased their “Airport Improvement Fee”.
Notably, the same flights booked through partner programs like Alaska Atmos do not incur peak fuel surcharges. For example, the same YYZ-YVR flight redemption using Alaska Atmos looks like this;
One-way Atmos Redemption: YYZ-YVR
For Canadians travelling domestically and transborder, redeeming Alaska Atmos on Porter Airlines is a great sweet spot. For example, redeeming for Porter Reserve on E195-E2 aircraft, which is priced as a premium economy product, lets you fly from Ontario to Florida for just 2,500 points more than economy.
2 comments
Any one running the numbers may be scratching their heads with the implementation of this. It’s a flat $40 fee per person per direction for flights in Canada or to the U.S. regardless of distance. And a flat $86 to Mexico, Caribbean, and Cancun. Toronto to Cancun is over 400nm shorter than Toronto to Los Angeles and yet the fee is more than double….
Ha! Good observation on the CUN v LAX distance from YYZ. I guess a linear levy on awards was an easier IT lift than a dynamic once based on distance.