Etihad Airways Etihad Guest - EY v EK taxes on reward flights

I am looking to redeem some miles for a reward ticket from London to the UAE. With EK the tax component is around £90 with EY it is more than £300- is it always this high with EY? How can they justify this high charge? I have over 200,000 miles with EY and only 90,000 with EK- I think I should stick with EK. Is there anyway I can get EY to reduce this rate?

It's possible that Etihad charges you the additional fuel surcharge on award tickets. With EK the fuel surcharge is incorporated into the base fare so is not applicable on award tickets.

Please see my post on this board regarding taxes charged by EY for using EY miles to obtain AA tickets. The taxes are out-of-sight and far, far greater than would be charged when using AA miles for AA flights. It can't be that EY is collecting some fuel surcharge for AA -- esp. since AA does not charge such itself. When I had a $120.33 tax from EY for a one way F ticket on AA, the breakdown read: "109.53 US/ 2.50 AY/ 8.30 XT"

EY miles are surely not worth much for AA flights if they are charging such taxes -- and it can't be for fuel surcharge.

It's possible that Etihad charges you the additional fuel surcharge on award tickets. With EK the fuel surcharge is incorporated into the base fare so is not applicable on award tickets.

This is exactly the reason, Sadiqhassan. EY follows the model of most European airlines and charges hefty fuel surcharges on revenue and award tickets. EK introduced a small fuel surcharge only very recently. EK used to have all fuel cost incorporated in the base fare.

Please see my post on this board regarding taxes charged by EY for using EY miles to obtain AA tickets. The taxes are out-of-sight and far, far greater than would be charged when using AA miles for AA flights. It can't be that EY is collecting some fuel surcharge for AA -- esp. since AA does not charge such itself. When I had a $120.33 tax from EY for a one way F ticket on AA, the breakdown read: "109.53 US/ 2.50 AY/ 8.30 XT"

EY miles are surely not worth much for AA flights if they are charging such taxes -- and it can't be for fuel surcharge.

the 'US' tax in your quote appears to be the US Transportation Tax which is charged as a percentage on the fare for REVENUE tickets only!

there has been incidents with other FFPs charging INCORRECTLY this tax on award tickets too (e.g. bmi) and it is disputable as by US law, a domestic frequent flyer ticket should only attract a $2.5 september 11th security fee AY. All other charges are not due unless the a YQ/YR is charged (which makes the ticket no longer a 'free ticket' in the light of the US regulations), hence there will be XT taxes etc.

in the case of this AA ticket issued by EY, it seems that EY treated it as a revenue ticket, hence the US and the XT taxes (since AA does not have YQ per se).

i would follow up with EY on this and escalate the issue. if still unsolved, take the flight first, then dispute with your credit card company as you have the laws on your side :) if you can be bothered of course...