I&#x27;ve never given much thought to what the airlines might claim to be the breakdown of the sum I pay for the flight because the fixed costs don&#x27;t really define the lump sum price anyway.<p>Competition is fierce enough to drive down those costs over which airlines have any control at all. I think that for any route worth its salt the prices are close enough to what&#x27;s actually sustainable for the airline and not necessarily <i>that much</i> higher. This is very different for more remote and less-used routes where one or two company might enjoy a geographical monopoly.<p>The thing is that the airlines make sure there&#x27;s always something you can buy from at a crazy prize. The classic example might be the first class ticket for the next departing flight. Even each first class and business seat allows the airline to give a small discount for all economy seats because people are willing to pay a different price for things they value differently. Further, because seats are sold one by one, even economy seats can cost double or half depending on when and how you&#x27;re buying them.<p>Personally, I book my flights somewhat in advance, picking a combination of flight times and prices that I find tolerable myself. The limits are all subjective and can change. But I don&#x27;t care if I paid five dollars&#x2F;euros&#x2F;pounds more or less because of &quot;passenger civil aviation security service fee&quot; because the major factor for how much I end up paying is how the market works for airline tickets. If the fee was 2 pounds or 20 pounds, I might still be paying the same price. Or I could be paying a hundred pounds more (or less) for the ticket even if the fees would be a few dozens pounds less (or more).