In the era of electronic ticketing, a vast majority of people buy their airline tickets online. However, did you know that you could save on the cost of your Breeze Airways ticket by booking it at the airport on Tuesdays between 11AM and 1PM ET? Let’s talk about why…
In this post:
Why you should buy Breeze tickets at the airport
Breeze Airways is one of the newest airlines in the United States, and the airline is a unique ultra low cost carrier. Breeze Airways’ base fares tend to be quite low, though when you get to the booking page, you might notice an interesting quirk, in the form of a “Technology Development Charge.”
For example, take the below $39 flight from Tampa to Huntsville.
You’ll notice that the base fare is only $13.40, but then there are $25.60 in taxes & fees, including a $10 “Technology Development Charge.”
The amount isn’t the same with all itineraries. For example, take the below $107 flight from Tampa to Las Vegas.
For this flight, the “Technology Development Charge” is $27.
If you book your ticket through Breeze Airways’ website, you’re on the hook for paying that fee. However, there’s a way to avoid it — if you instead book at any Breeze Airways ticket counter on a Tuesday between 11AM and 1PM ET, you won’t have to pay the “Technology Development Charge.”
Breeze Airways justifies the “Technology Development Charge” by claiming “we’re a technology company that happens to fly airplanes,” and that “we’re using this portion of the fare to make a Seriously Nice airline.”
Why Breeze tickets are cheaper at the airport
Okay, you can save some amount of money by booking your Breeze Airways tickets on Tuesdays between 11AM and 1PM ET, but what’s the logic for this seemingly random policy? Well, it comes down to taxes.
Airlines have to pay a 7.5% federal excise tax on airfare, but not on optional fees. In order for something to be considered an optional fee, there has to be a way to avoid paying it. So Breeze doesn’t have to pay taxes on the “Technology Development Charge” portion of the ticket cost because it’s technically a fee, rather than airfare, since you can avoid it.
Of course Breeze doesn’t want to make it easy for people to book at the airport (it’s a much more costly ticketing technique), which is why there’s only a two hour period over the entire week where you can book tickets at the airport.
Virtually all ultra low cost carriers (including Allegiant Air, Frontier Airlines, and Spirit Airlines) have similar made up charges that make up a big portion of the airfare, in order to reduce the taxes they have to pay on ticket costs.
I tend to think that this is worth being aware of, though for most people it’s probably not worth making a special trip to the airport just to save this fee. Of course if you’re booking a bunch of tickets, or travel for lots of people, the savings may add up. If you happen to be at an airport on a Tuesday anyway, then this might be more valuable to a wider audience.
Bottom line
The cheapest place to book Breeze Airways tickets isn’t online, but rather at the airport on Tuesdays between 11AM and 1PM ET. That’s because the “Technology Development Charge” doesn’t apply when ticketing Breeze reservations at the airport.
The logic for this policy is that ultra low cost carriers try to minimize the taxes they have to pay by making as much of the fare as possible fees rather than base fare. That’s because airfare has a federal excise tax of 7.5%, while fees don’t.
A vast majority of people aren’t going to go through the hassle of booking at the airport, while those that do can come out ahead.
Could you see yourself ticketing a Breeze reservation at the airport?
(Tip of the hat to @RossFeinstein & DansDeals)
I just came to Provo Airport to buy Breeze tickets and now they changed the time to 9-11 am so I missed it. I don’t know where to find updated times/days Breeze and Allegiant sell tickets at airport counters. Any help/advice would be great!
Provo Airport didn't change the time on you. The time is listed as 11-1 Eastern Time. That IS 9-11am in Provo, UT which is Mountain Time. (2 hrs difference)
The weirder thing about Breeze is their practice of searching on the Internet for my personal avatar. I use it on ONE website, which is a private group (nothing bad, just not something anyone outside the group would be familiar with). Somehow, Breeze searches the web and uses that picture. That's pretty invasive.
Breeze just uses your Google account photo, not searching the internet
There are only three certainty’s in life: Death, Taxes, and Companies finding obscure ways to avoid taxes
The IRS should get on their asses for obvious tax evasion, and while we’re at it why are services excluded from tax ?
This isn’t tax evasion, this is tax avoidance
A long time ago you wrote about a similar thing on Spirit where you could avoid a "passenger use fee" by buying tickets at the airport. https://onemileatatime.com/buy-spirit-airlines-ticket-at-airport/ Is that still an option? If I remember correctly with this you weren't limited to certain times to not have to pay the fee, as long as you bought the ticket at the airport you didn't have to pay it.
I do it (purchase at the airport) on Spirit. The downside is that some (a lot) of the agents are clueless and can’t figure out how to price the ticket right. So you have to call for a sometimes clueless supervisor. I don’t leave until i get what i know is right!
Am I missing something. Doesn't this gimmick mean that the flying public saves by not having to pay the 7.5% tax on these fees; Of course the public would really save if the airlines didn't charge fees but then they would incorporate the fee in the fare where it would be subject to the tax
Need a “trip report” where you try and go buy a ticket during that two hour window! I’m curious if it’s even possible
I am not going to make a special trip to the airport to save that money. Most of the savings would be eaten up by parking and gas. If I happen to be at the airport already maybe I would consider it, but I am not sure I trust the Breeze agents to book my flight if I can even find them.
I heard about this somewhere else but not the limited hours. Thanks for the clarification!
Where's your Green Card, Jooooooorge?
It's unfortunate that some people believe that they can fly one way or RT for almost nothing. The airline is going to sell the ticket with loads of fees, taxes & other add on's to make money. The extra low advertised price is usually a gimmick to get ones attention. It works.
I am going to pay $15 in airport parking to save $10. No thanks
Agreed. However, airport parking isn't always $15. It may be for you, but it's free for some other people, so their calculus is different.
Thanks for sharing your perspective on what you would do. It was very much appreciated.
Allegiant has something similar. I worked at the airport, I was there every (week)day. I wanted to buy the tickets at the counter and save the fee. Allegiant flew to this airport maybe 3 days a week. I went to the counter when it was staffed on one of these days, they told me that they wouldn't do ticket sales while they were busy with check in - wait until after the flight departs. After...
Allegiant has something similar. I worked at the airport, I was there every (week)day. I wanted to buy the tickets at the counter and save the fee. Allegiant flew to this airport maybe 3 days a week. I went to the counter when it was staffed on one of these days, they told me that they wouldn't do ticket sales while they were busy with check in - wait until after the flight departs. After check in closes, the staff goes to the gate for boarding duties...and they never come back to the counter afterward. So essentially there was no way to buy a ticket at this airport. If I had to wait until the next time an Allegiant flight was operating from the airport, there's a good chance the fare would have increased by then. So buying the ticket online and paying the fee was what I was left with as the most practical option.
I had to ask the staff at the neighboring United counter to go get them from their office at my airport. They probably are there somewhere. Allegiant regularly offers a $20 off code in an Instagram ad now though, so I just save myself a trip to the airport and use that instead.
How about this?
If you book online, we charge Tech Fee
If you book in an airport, we charge a manual processing service Fee
Which one u book with, the same price!
Frontier and Allegiant were already pushing their luck with their excise-tax-avoiding booking fees paired with restrictive airport ticketing hours. (This is less true of Spirit, whose airport booking hours are generous.)
Breeze, though, seems to be begging USDOT to crack down. As we all know, what makes a fee distinct from an excise tax is if it's avoidable, and as we all know, fares change all the time. Therefore, there are many, many fares that...
Frontier and Allegiant were already pushing their luck with their excise-tax-avoiding booking fees paired with restrictive airport ticketing hours. (This is less true of Spirit, whose airport booking hours are generous.)
Breeze, though, seems to be begging USDOT to crack down. As we all know, what makes a fee distinct from an excise tax is if it's avoidable, and as we all know, fares change all the time. Therefore, there are many, many fares that will simply not be bookable at Tuesday between 11:00 and 13:00.
(To an extent, this is a sorites paradox. I think everyone would agree the fee is largely avoidable if you could book tickets sans fee at almost any time any served airport is open, as is almost the case with Spirit. I think everyone would also agree that the fee was unavoidable if you could only book tickets sans fee in person at one airport for one minute each week and also they raised the base fares during that one minute window by the amount of the fee. The question is where does one draw the line between the two?)
*what makes a fee distinct from an AIRFARE is if it's avoidable
:-)
Tax avoidance makes people, and companies, do wacky things!
Same thing @Frontier