Airlines charge all kinds of taxes and fees on tickets, some of which are mandated by the government and some of which are imposed by the carrier. One of Europe’s largest airlines will soon add a new environmental surcharge to its tickets, which is sure to be controversial.
Details of Lufthansa’s new green ticket surcharge
For tickets issued from 26 June 2024 and for journeys from 1 January 2025, the Lufthansa Group is adding a new environmental surcharge to the tickets.
This applies to all flights departing from any country in the European Union, Great Britain, Norway and Switzerland. It also applies to all Lufthansa Group airlines, including Lufthansa, SWISS, Austrian, Brussels, Eurowings, Air Dolomiti, Discover, Edelweiss, Lufthansa City and Lufthansa CityLine (does Lufthansa have enough airline brands?!).
The new surcharge will be per segment and prices can be found below. As you can see, it starts as low as $1 in economy class on a short-haul flight and goes up to $72 in first class on a long-haul flight.
The exact amount of the surcharge will be displayed in the last step of the booking process in the price details. For sale tickets, this likely means that fares will suddenly increase slightly based on the above amounts.
I wonder if this carries over to premium tickets as well, for situations where the program usually doesn’t pass on carrier imposed surcharges. I suspect not, but who knows…
What does Lufthansa’s new environmental surcharge cover?
As described by Lufthansa, this new environmental cost surcharge covers additional costs resulting from legislative environmental regulations, such as the new SAF (Sustainable Aviation Fuel) mandate of the European Union (“ReFuelEU Aviation”), adjustments to the European ETS (“Emissions Trading System”) . ”) and other regulatory costs.
When it comes to travel from 2025, there are indeed some new green initiatives mandated by the government, which will cost airlines some money.
It’s only fair that there is a cost to making air travel more environmentally friendly, and that these costs will eventually be passed on to consumers in some way. I think what’s frustrating for people is that it’s now another surcharge that airlines add to the price of a ticket.
As far as I’m concerned, just charge what you’re going to charge and call it a day. Many costs in the airline industry have increased over the years, but each increase may not be broken down for the consumer to see. For example, there is no “increased labor cost surcharge” on airfare, even though this is a significantly higher price for most airlines.
I suspect the strategy here is twofold. First, it’s probably to remind consumers of the costs that airlines face, to make it seem like airlines aren’t cutting corners as much. Also, I think there could be some cost advantage here, whether it’s the surcharge not being taxed or the travel agents not getting a commission on that part of the ticket.
Bottom Line
For tickets issued from June 26 and for travel from 2025 onwards, Lufthansa Group tickets are subject to a new environmental surcharge ranging from USD 1 to USD 72 per segment. The Lufthansa Group justifies this by arguing that new environmental regulations are being introduced in 2025, so the airline is passing these costs on to consumers.
It seems to me that it should be included in the tariff and we should have it in a day. But I think Lufthansa Group is taking the same approach here as with “fuel surcharges”.
What do you think of Lufthansa’s new green surcharge?