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Old Aug 28, 2013, 10:24 am
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American have confirmed that there is no change to the fuel surcharges being levied on awards, as posted by AmericanAirlines in post #157:

Originally Posted by AmericanAirlines
Last night, in a routine effort to better align American to industry standards with other global carriers, American began collecting carrier-imposed surcharges on tickets for travel on other carriers metal. This change was intended for revenue tickets only, but the surcharge was erroneously added to AAdvantage award redemptions on other airlines as well. Except in the cases of British Airways and Iberia (where American currently collects these surcharges), no carrier-imposed surcharges will be applied when redeeming AAdvantage miles for award travel on other carriers. Any customers who encountered this fee in error will be fully refunded.
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AA adds fuel surcharges on some international awards? [NO]

 
Old Aug 28, 2013, 2:05 am
  #1  
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AA adds fuel surcharges on some international awards? [NO]

Just saw this on Luckys blog and tried to book a Malaysia award ticket and it looks like they are imposing three hundred and change in yq surcharges
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Old Aug 28, 2013, 2:22 am
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Link:

http://boardingarea.com/onemileatati...antage-awards/

--------------------

Thread title updated as we have not yet had confirmation of this. If it is confirmed, thread title will be updated again.

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Old Aug 28, 2013, 2:30 am
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I'm struggling to believe (perhaps naively) that American would do this without some sort of advance warning. I'm hoping this turns out to be a Malaysia issue as opposed to an American one but, if it isn't, then this will probably be a massive game changer when it comes to deciding what to do with miles (and when deciding which program to collect them in).

Last edited by Stripy; Aug 28, 2013 at 3:01 am
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Old Aug 28, 2013, 3:00 am
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As much as I'd like to think this wouldn't happen with AA (or at least on AA metal), I truly think it was just a matter of time. When you compare the different airline loyalty programs, it's usually either an absurd amount of miles required or an absurd amount of surcharges.

While I hope it isn't true, I could definitely see this being a possibility. From the link, I thought the $300+ was roundtrip for a business ticket which didn't seem too bad all things considered. Each way though, this definitely is a huge step up.

I'm sure it won't be long before the true answer comes out however.
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Old Aug 28, 2013, 3:03 am
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Originally Posted by Stripy
I'm struggling to believe (perhaps naively) that American would do this without some sort of advance warning. I'm hoping this turns out to be a Malaysia issue as opposed to an American one but, if it isn't, then this will probably be a massive game changer when it comes to deciding what to do with miles (and when deciding which program or collect them in).
I also thought that AA would likely give proper notice for something like this, but looks like I'm wrong. I put a QF award on hold as I buy 1K miles to book the flight. I'm assuming they won't recalculate fees/taxes when I go to book...that would be a real bummer.
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Old Aug 28, 2013, 3:12 am
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Now may be a good time to make one of those Hitler video parodies on Youtube
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Old Aug 28, 2013, 3:37 am
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Bummer... and those innovative people at UA, DL and other will undoubtedly follow this bright example...
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Old Aug 28, 2013, 3:38 am
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I found out about it the hard way when I tried to change my MH award by dropping a leg. While it's not the end of the world for my itinerary since MH only added $160 USD YQ on my CDG-KUL flight, but it's bad news to all.

2 agents confirmed to me that this is effective 28 August 2013 and she said all carriers, not just MH.
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Old Aug 28, 2013, 3:40 am
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Originally Posted by UVU Wolverine
As much as I'd like to think this wouldn't happen with AA (or at least on AA metal), I truly think it was just a matter of time. When you compare the different airline loyalty programs, it's usually either an absurd amount of miles required or an absurd amount of surcharges.
... or an absurd amount of both miles and money. DL is a big example of that when the "award" travel originates in say some parts of the world beyond the Americas.

Still waiting to see to what extent AA is going to hit us with this kind of approach. And still as eager as ever to see no USdbaAA.

Last edited by GUWonder; Aug 28, 2013 at 3:47 am
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Old Aug 28, 2013, 3:58 am
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Originally Posted by GUWonder
... or an absurd amount of both miles and money. DL is a big example of that when the "award" travel originates in say some parts of the world beyond the Americas.

Still waiting to see to what extent AA is going to hit us with this kind of approach. And still as eager as ever to see no USdbaAA.
Hence the "usually" qualifier"

Being PHX based, the merger would've been nice in some respects. Albeit, it is/was guaranteed that PHX would face a pretty steep reduction in flights. Knowing some US flight attendants on a personal level definitely makes me think about the merger in a different light however too.

Maybe I can still book some TATL J tickets on Airberlin without the surcharges.
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Old Aug 28, 2013, 4:04 am
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Originally Posted by UVU Wolverine
Hence the "usually" qualifier"

Being PHX based, the merger would've been nice in some respects. Albeit, it is/was guaranteed that PHX would face a pretty steep reduction in flights. Knowing some US flight attendants on a personal level definitely makes me think about the merger in a different light however too.

Maybe I can still book some TATL J tickets on Airberlin without the surcharges.
But Air Berlin's TATL J is not one of the better ones...
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Old Aug 28, 2013, 4:05 am
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Originally Posted by UVU Wolverine
Hence the "usually" qualifier"

Being PHX based, the merger would've been nice in some respects. Albeit, it is/was guaranteed that PHX would face a pretty steep reduction in flights. Knowing some US flight attendants on a personal level definitely makes me think about the merger in a different light however too.

Maybe I can still book some TATL J tickets on Airberlin without the surcharges.
Those are still showing up as bookable for $2.50 on US-DUS/TXL flights. But those tickets may get issued after being reviewed by some kind of AA partner liaison desk, so it's not over till it's over with a ticket number issued.

Just decided to buy some AV miles and use them as a substitute for using the AA miles on MH flights -- the fuel surcharges were a substantial factor in my making that decision.

Last edited by GUWonder; Aug 28, 2013 at 4:11 am
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Old Aug 28, 2013, 4:11 am
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Originally Posted by mirror74
Bummer... and those innovative people at UA, DL and other will undoubtedly follow this bright example...
DL already does this ex-Europe...so they're "in line" with AF/KL.
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Old Aug 28, 2013, 4:14 am
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Originally Posted by GUWonder
Those are still showing up as bookable for $2.50 on US-DUS/TXL flights. But those tickets may get issued after being reviewed by some kind of AA partner liaison desk, so it's not over till it's over with a ticket number issued.
Good to know as apparently the change date was 8/28/13,

These subjects are always so speculative, but it seems that in many cases they are true.
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Old Aug 28, 2013, 4:16 am
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American imposing fuel surcharges on intl awards? [unconfirmed]

Ouch.
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