A discussion about the airline industry, airline employees, and all things related

Qantas says that effective May 5 it will levy an extra $98, each way, on international flights to compensate for rapidly rising fuel prices. And it's not the only airline moving quickly to pass on rising fuel costs to long-haul customers.

Lufthansa last week raised its fuel surcharge on long-haul flights to $76, sister company Swiss airlines boosted its levy to $84, and Irish carrier Air Lingus launched its first surcharge ($43, each way, on flights to and from the USA). The same week, British Airways hiked its surcharge on long-haul flights for the eighth time in two years, to $61 per flight, and a week earlier American Airlines added a $10 long-haul surcharge.

"The fuel-surcharge situation is going a bit crazy right now," says airline watcher Tom Betts, editor of flycheapo.com, noting that every week seems to bring another round of increases.

Betts says travelers should brace for more hikes if oil prices — which hit $75 a barrel last week — don't come down soon. "Ticket prices will rise (due to fuel costs), either obviously with these surcharges or (less obviously) in a more general rise in the cost of tickets."

Airlines are being creamed by the latest hike in fuel costs. Airline watcher Terry Trippler of Cheapseats.com says it now costs $103,400 to fill a Boeing 747-400 for a flight to Asia, up from $48,000 two years ago. That works out to $253, one way, for each of the 408 seats — more, he notes, than the $227, not including taxes, he recently paid for a Northwest flight from Detroit to Tokyo.

Industry watcher Mike Driscoll, editor of the newsletter Cruiseweek, says the good news for cruisers is that major mass-market lines such as Royal Caribbean and Carnival probably won't add a surcharge anytime soon. "The apparent concern is that Wall Street would view such a move in a negative light, and cruise leaders are trying to (downplay) the long-term impact that rising fuel costs are having on their business."

Surcharges or not, vacationers continue to book far-flung trips in record numbers, says travel agent Kathy Sudeikis of All About Travel in Mission, Kan. "It has not been slowing demand for summer travel yet," she says. "People already had decided where they wanted to go, and they're too committed to change those plans at this point."

Still, Janie Graziani of AAA, one of the nation's largest travel agencies, says the extra charges are annoying to consumers. "One of the problems is the fuel surcharge isn't included in the advertised price, so that makes the cost of the ticket look artificially low. Consumers need to be aware of it."