BA Fuel Surcharge USDOT Complaint
Feb 7, 2013, 10:25 am
#16
Original Member
Join Date: May 1998
Location: Austin TX
Programs: AA PLT, ICH Plat
Posts: 1,965
Added my comments
Feb 7, 2013, 11:03 am
#17
Join Date: Mar 2012
Location: Southern California
Programs: AA: EXP, SPG: Gold
Posts: 201
Completely agree!
Feb 7, 2013, 11:11 am
#18
Join Date: Oct 2010
Posts: 411
The person that submitted this complaint did an EXCELLENT job of providing very detailed information about the problem and the possible DOT violations. Hopefully this gains some traction!! (just waiting for this to hit the travel/points blogs at this point)
Feb 7, 2013, 12:27 pm
#19
Join Date: May 2009
Location: South Park, CO
Programs: Tegridy Elite
Posts: 5,678
Fuel surcharges are a ripoff indeed. Though I'm sure at the end of the day if the practice is "outlawed", they will just find some other way to pad their pockets... huge "award booking fee", for example...or jack up the mileage redemption rates even more.
Feb 7, 2013, 12:36 pm
#20
Join Date: Oct 2010
Location: San Diego, Ca
Programs: AA 2MM LT PLT; AS MVP Gold75k; HHonors Diamond; IHG PLT
Posts: 3,502
Bigger concern, more likely scenario: Saaver awards on BA will disappear. Given the choice, we bit the bullet, paid the extra fees to fly B from LAX to LHR on BA using a Saaver award last summer, rather than LAX-JFK-LHR on AA. Until / unless AA releases more saaver award inventory, we will continue to do the same.
Feb 7, 2013, 1:06 pm
#21
Join Date: Jan 2013
Posts: 182
Fuel is an essential component to providing the service. It's an expense that MUST be incurred to provide that service. Therefore should be part of the regular ticket price.
Unlike the baggage fees. A passenger can opt to not take a checked bag, and not incur a fee, we cannot choose to put less fuel on the plane.
Do Bus and/or Train companies charge a fuel surcharge? Nope - it's needed to provide the service!!
Unlike the baggage fees. A passenger can opt to not take a checked bag, and not incur a fee, we cannot choose to put less fuel on the plane.
Do Bus and/or Train companies charge a fuel surcharge? Nope - it's needed to provide the service!!
Feb 7, 2013, 1:23 pm
#22
Join Date: Mar 2012
Posts: 6
Sent in my comment, too!
Just had quite the shock when I went to use AA miles for a trip to Europe. Surcharges cost almost as much as a ticket!
By the way, anyway around this? Is there a route I can use to Europe (ultimately going to Brussels, but want to travel elsewhere a bit) to avoid these crazy charges?
Just had quite the shock when I went to use AA miles for a trip to Europe. Surcharges cost almost as much as a ticket!
By the way, anyway around this? Is there a route I can use to Europe (ultimately going to Brussels, but want to travel elsewhere a bit) to avoid these crazy charges?
Feb 7, 2013, 2:26 pm
#23
Join Date: Jul 2007
Location: NH, USA
Programs: AA PLAT (2.8MM), DL Diamond, UA*S, BA Silver, Hyatt Globalist, Marriott LTE, Hilton DIAMOND, IHG PLT
Posts: 770
BA Fuel Surcharge USDOT Complaint
Try AirBerlin or Finnair to avoid fuel surcharge. You can also book on jet airways to Brussels from ord/JFK/ewr using AA miles.
Feb 7, 2013, 2:31 pm
#24
Join Date: Sep 2010
Posts: 1
Thank you! So helpful!!! Figured this also from reading other posts.
Changed my trip idea from going to Ireland/Brussels/Amsterdam to Copenhagen/Brussels/Amsterdam. Only $200+ in fees/taxes for 2 of us and only 80,000 miles for the 2 of us economy round trip.
Ireland will wait 'till another day!
Changed my trip idea from going to Ireland/Brussels/Amsterdam to Copenhagen/Brussels/Amsterdam. Only $200+ in fees/taxes for 2 of us and only 80,000 miles for the 2 of us economy round trip.
Ireland will wait 'till another day!
Feb 7, 2013, 2:35 pm
#25
Join Date: Aug 2011
Location: ELP
Programs: AAdvantage, Amex MR
Posts: 2,314
Sent in my comment, too!
Just had quite the shock when I went to use AA miles for a trip to Europe. Surcharges cost almost as much as a ticket!
By the way, anyway around this? Is there a route I can use to Europe (ultimately going to Brussels, but want to travel elsewhere a bit) to avoid these crazy charges?
Just had quite the shock when I went to use AA miles for a trip to Europe. Surcharges cost almost as much as a ticket!
By the way, anyway around this? Is there a route I can use to Europe (ultimately going to Brussels, but want to travel elsewhere a bit) to avoid these crazy charges?
Feb 7, 2013, 3:40 pm
#26
Join Date: Jan 2006
Location: SFOSJCOAK
Programs: AA-EXP & 1MM+, AS, MR-LTT, HH Gold
Posts: 7,576
Submitted.
Feb 7, 2013, 5:02 pm
#27
Join Date: Dec 2001
Posts: 3,181
British Airways Fuel charges are a ripp off; $600 for a so called Free Award ticket in economy to Europe compared to about $150 on UNITED.
Feb 7, 2013, 5:04 pm
#28
Join Date: Dec 2001
Posts: 3,181
You can also fly Aer Lingus to avoid charges to Europe. However no awards from Dublin so you have to buy a regular ticket.
Feb 7, 2013, 5:17 pm
#29
Join Date: Dec 2002
Location: eastern Europe & NC
Posts: 4,527
Lets try to encourage more people to join the complaint. Post a link to this thread on any site that air travellers frequent. I have put up links to it on our corporate intranet and on three timeshare websites.
Feb 7, 2013, 6:12 pm
#30
Join Date: Sep 2006
Location: Santo Domingo, Dom. Rep. / Washington, DC
Programs: AA PPro/DL PLT, PPass, Marriott / Hilton Gold, JetBlue Mosaic, Hertz Presidents Circle, Amex Plat
Posts: 4,628
Good Job Ben Edelman! I added my comments as well