Tag Archives for fuel surcharges.
European low cost airline Volotea has crossed a line I’ve never seen from a commercial carrier before. They’re trying to charge customers extra for fuel that already bought their tickets. They say they’ll deny boarding to anyone that doesn’t pay an extra €7 to fly because the cost of jet fuel has gone up so much.
Last fall, Virgin Atlantic moved to dynamic pricing for award travel. Virgin has already devalued this new proposition: they’ve doubled the cash surcharges you’ll pay on these cheapest bookings.
Delta SkyMiles is one of the least valuable frequent flyer programs for mileage earning and redemption. It’s that way intentionally. But it has been even worse for Europeans, and for members who want to book one-way tickets back from Europe.
Qatar Airways, like many frequent flyer programs, adds cash surcharges when you redeem your miles. Their award travel isn’t free. Still, it can be an incredible deal to redeem 70,000 points to fly arguably the best business class in the world… even with a few hundred bucks out of pocket.
But what if you didn’t have to pay these cash surcharges at all?
Qatar Airways has significantly increased the surcharges on award redemptions using Avios points, creating a substantial impact on travelers looking to redeem their points for flights. While the number of Avios points required for these flights remains unchanged, the fees associated with these bookings have escalated dramatically.
Emirates finally offers an explanation for why they keep raising the price of awards while also adding $1,600 co-pays when you spend your miles. And the answer is, basically, because once you acquire their miles you’re stuck and they can.
British Airways has introduced a ‘Reward Flight Saver’ option for long haul premium cabin travel that – as long as you’ve earned at least 1 Avios in the last 12 months – lets you pay more miles for substantially reduced surcharges.
British Airways makes a lot of business class award space available, but they’re expensive. Departures from the U.K. incur significant ‘air passenger duty’ and awards also incur fuel surcharges. A roundtrip business class award between the U.S. and U.K. might run $1300 in taxes and fees.
Right now there seems to be a quirk booking awards on British Airways that you can exploit to reduce fuel surcharges (or ‘carrier-imposed surcharges’) by about two-thirds.
Emirates has imposed some of the highest surcharges on award tickets in the world. Taxes and fees flying New York – Bangkok in business or first class were recently has high as $1736 roundtrip – and that’s in addition to paying with miles.
All of a sudden, though, that’s changed.
The ability to use American AAdvantage miles at the saver level without significant fuel surcharges is a relative rarity and worth jumping on.
oneworld carrier Iberia – owned by British Airways parent IAG – is starting new summer seasonal service between Washington Dulles and Madrid five times a week, effective May 1. The flight will be operated by an Airbus A330-300 with 29 business class, 21 premium economy, and 242 coach seats.
Gary Leff is one of the foremost experts in the field of miles, points, and frequent business travel -- a topic he has covered since 2002.
Co-founder of frequent flyer community InsideFlyer.com, emcee of the Freddie Awards, and named one of the "World's Top Travel Experts" by Conde' Nast Traveler (2010-Present) Gary has been a guest on most major news media, profiled in several top print publications, and published broadly on the topic of consumer loyalty. More About Gary »
