Service Fees & Taxes
What CipheroTravel charges, in plain dollars, and the taxes airlines collect.
Last updated October 6, 2026
As an independent travel agency, CipheroTravel earns its income from a service fee. It covers the work of searching, booking, ticketing and looking after your trip, and it is charged on top of the airfare and anything the airline itself charges. Online, the fee appears on its own line before you pay. On the phone, your agent tells you the amount and waits for your agreement before taking payment.
You will always see our fee before you commit. If it was not shown to you and you did not agree to it, you will not be charged it.
Booking fees
The fee is charged per traveler. What you pay depends on whether you book yourself or ask an agent to do it, and on how involved the trip is.
| Way of booking | Simple trip | Complex or international trip |
|---|---|---|
| Online: you book it yourself on cipherotravel.com | $35 per traveler | $35 per traveler |
| With an agent: a CipheroTravel agent books it with you by phone | from $50 per traveler | up to $250 per traveler |
- Example: two people booking online together pay a service fee of $35 × 2 travelers.
- Agent bookings cost more because a person plans, prices and checks the itinerary alongside you.
- The more straightforward the trip, the closer the agent fee stays to the bottom of the range. It never goes above $250 per traveler.
- There is no CipheroTravel service fee for a lap infant under 2.
Simple or complex?
We call a trip simple when it is a plain one-way or return journey and everyone travels on the same flights. It becomes complex when it involves any of these:
- Arriving in one city and leaving from another, or stopping in more than one place along the way.
- A group that travels out together but comes home on different days.
- An international route that uses more than one airline or several connections.
- Different cabins on different legs, such as business class out and economy back.
- Five or more travelers whose bookings need to be coordinated.
- Extra arrangements, such as children flying alone, pets in the cabin, or several infants spread across airlines.
A worked example
A couple flies from Houston to Manila together on March 3. One of them flies home on March 18 and the other on April 1. Since the two returns are separate tickets on separate dates, the agent treats the booking as complex and tells them the fee before anything is booked.
Fees once your ticket is issued
If you want to change, cancel or refund a ticket that has already been issued, an agent handles it at the rates below, per traveler. These sit on top of any airline penalty or fare difference. You get the full figure and give your approval before we go ahead.
| Request | Simple ticket | Complex or international ticket |
|---|---|---|
| Cancelling a ticket | $50 | up to $250 |
| Changing dates or route | $50 | up to $250 |
| Changing or cancelling a ticket you have partly flown | not applicable | up to $250 |
| Handling a refund | $50 | up to $250 |
| Fixing a small spelling mistake in a name | $50 | up to $100 |
| Cancelling inside the airline's void window | No fee | No fee |
| Rebooking or refunding after the airline cancels or significantly changes your flight | No fee | No fee |
| Requests for seats, meals or special assistance | No fee | No fee |
- Date or route changes, and any work on a partly flown ticket, are always treated as complex.
- When the airline is the one that disrupted your trip, we rebook you without a CipheroTravel fee.
- If your fare lets you change without an airline charge, our service fee is the only cost.
Who charges what
| Part of the price | Set by | Applies |
|---|---|---|
| Fare, taxes and airline charges | The airline, airports and governments | On every ticket |
| Airline penalty and any fare difference | The airline's fare rules | Only if you change or cancel |
| CipheroTravel service fee | CipheroTravel | On new bookings, and on agent work after ticketing |
Taxes and government charges
Taxes and charges are set by governments, airports and airlines, and are collected as part of the ticket price. On flights within the US they usually include the federal ticket tax, the flight segment fee, the September 11th Security Fee of $5.60 per one-way trip, and Passenger Facility Charges of up to $4.50 per airport. International tickets also carry the taxes of each country you travel through and, on some routes, charges added by the airline. Fees the airline collects from you directly, such as for bags, seats or airport services, are not collected by CipheroTravel.
Can I get the service fee back?
Our fee pays for work that has already been done, so in most cases it is not refunded if you cancel later. You do get it back in full if you cancel within the airline's void window, or if the airline cancels or significantly changes your flight and you choose a refund. The airline's share of any refund depends on your fare rules; our Refund Policy explains more.
Currency
Every price on CipheroTravel is shown in US dollars. Cards issued outside the US may attract a foreign transaction fee from your bank.