well it obviosly doesn't add up!

My sentiments exactly! Are there any travel agents here who can tell me if amounts quoted on etickets are the actual purchase price of the ticket?

Hi zizi ... I see that you are posting from the US and presumably referring to a US travel agent, who may be operating under different procedures and regulations than agents here in the UK.

However, in this country some travel agents do charge a booking fee on flight only sales, especially if the airlines involved are not very generous with commission levels. Those booking fees or any other travel agent fees may not be shown on the airline's e-ticket.

In this case, there does seem to be too much of difference for it to be solely down to a booking fee. I think you would need to ask your friend to itemise his invoice, for comparison against the fares shown on the e-ticket. There could be a simple explanation involving booking fees or exchange rates, or there may be a billing error which requires amendment.

David

Check the currencies - $3,675 roughly equals 2,740 Euros could be that the tickets are in one currency and you are paying in another.

fwh

Thanks for the help David HT Mod and fwh. Actually, I bought the tickets in Nairobi (Kenya) so the euro fee does not apply. I think it might be an error, too. Thanks again guys. I hope this gets resolved soon!

Hi Zizi,

I'm with David and fwh on this one - in the first instance I think you should check which currency the tickets are priced in and which currency you've been charged in on the invoice. The e-tickets are likely to be priced in the 'home' currency of the airline - who are you flying with? But your friend might have priced up the invoice on the basis of his 'trading' currency or whichever one he thought you'd be paying in. Bear in mind too that if these are different there might be currency exchange charges allowed for in the invoice price. Also, if he used a credit card to pay on-line for your e-tickets there might well have been a surcharge applied to the whole transaction which wouldn't necessarily show up on the e-ticket.

You might not have been s cammed as such but he might have added in some hefty fees for the credit card surcharge, currency exchange and his commission etc so ask for an itemised invoice because whilst these can all add up to quite a bit, if the ticketing and billing currency are the same then 25% in added fees does sound quite steep.

SM

I do suspect that it is all down to exchange rates and trading currencies.

It would help, if, when you have sorted it out you could post an explanation on here.

I cannot recall a query such as yours before. THe explanation may assist if in the future someone posts something similar.

fwh

Here's an update: I sent my "friend" an email asking for a breakdown of the total price and this invoice is what he sent back:

$1274 + $691 tax x 1 = $1343
$1097 + $691 tax x 2 = $2332
$207 tax and llp/$
$30 package/US

TOTAL: A WHOPPING $3705!

What is going on here? Why $691 for tax per ticket! Plus he has given me a ticket number - can anyone help me make sense of this? Ticket # 176 59126529878/7/6).

Anyone out there who can decipher this for me?

Sorry but you have lost me. I would ask your friend to explain it.

fwh

All I can suggest further is that you contact the airline concerned and ask them to confirm tickets prices and taxes that would need to be paid on tickets purchased in Kenya.

SM