Jaunted

Tags: Airline Fees / Air Pacific / Fiji Travel / Airfare Deals / → All Tags

Airfare Taxes and Fees Flatten Our Fijian Dreams

One of our biggest pet peeves when it comes to booking flights is the do-si-do websites do with displaying airfares; get us all excited with super cheap prices, but then tack on another couple hundred dollars in taxes and fees before checkout. One of the biggest offenders, aside from Ryanair. that is, is British Airways and their "JFK to LHR" specials which quickly turn a tasty $250 one-way into a sour $730 roundtrip.

Why must websites and email promotions tempt us so; why not just display juicy deals with taxes included? Our most recent disappointment comes at the hands of Air Pacific, Fiji's national airline. After we received a press release boasting of "unbeatable" $565 roundtrips (and no mention of taxes or fees) between LAX and Nadi, Fiji, we nearly choked on our chocolate donut.

For a moment, thoughts of gently swaying palm trees and scuba in crystal clear water danced in our head, but arrival to the Air Pacific website revealed that actually, the price with taxes comes to nearly $900. So much for tropical daydreams. Wake us when airfare sales actually return to being sales.

Related Stories:
· Flight Specials [Air Pacific]
· What It Really Costs to Fly Ryanair [Jaunted]
· Airline Fees Coverage [Jaunted]

[Photo: superciliousness]

Tags: Tourism Marketing / Fiji Travel / Tourists / → All Tags

Fiji Flushing Away Tourism Dollars

Avoiding problems by avoiding tourists...

Fijian tourism is suffering, and it's not just because of military coups. Nope, the thing that's really killing 'em is an incident last year in which a drunken Fijian soldier urinated on a Japanese tourist on board an Air Pacific flight.

Believe it or not, said the Fiji Times:

Urinating on a tourist on an international flight is a high-profile incident which gains global notoriety.

And getting peed on is only half of it. From cab drivers who overcharge tourists, to shop vendors working the hard sell to gum-smacking customs officers, the tourism industry is doing everything it can to give the country a black eye, the newspaper says. While there aren't any quick fixes listed, we've gotta figure that making it to the airplane lav in time would be a good start.

Related Stories:
· Urinating on Japanese Tourist Hits Fiji Tourism Badly [Stuff.co.nz]
· Coup Travel: The South Pacific's the Place [Jaunted]

[Photo: Wikipedia]