Airport tax stupidity

You’d think that since one of Spain’s few growth industries is tourism, the government would be extra careful not to piss tourists off unnecessarily.

So now there’s a new departure airport tax of up to 10 euros per passenger, payable as of July 1st. The dumb part is that they made the tax retroactive even on passengers that had already booked their tickets. Airlines are in a difficult position of having to either try to chase down customers for the extra charge, or eat it themselves.

(Ryanair, always willing to charge their customers for anything and everything is telling customers that they better pony up the charge, or their flight would get cancelled.)

I suppose tourists don’t vote, so treating them badly doesn’t cost votes directly, but you’d think the government would have the sense to fleece the tourists in ways that they’d enjoy a little more.