maltasr

I did try researching this, but found little useful information. Problem: Tried to book a RT BCN-TXL on AF in June. Delta website says 25,000 miles which seems quite reasonable. However, there is a tax of 177 Euros added to this "free" Air France airline ticket. Tried other European destinations and found same kind of tax add on. This seems ridiculous in light of it being a "free" ticket. It's been awhile since I used mileage within Europe. Three years ago I paid a small and reasonable tax on a CDG-IST RT, but this is absurd. If this BCN-CDG RT ticket were purchased, the cost would be 100 Euros w/ 177 Euros added in taxes totaling 277.57 Euros. I assume there is no way to skirt this fee. Do any of our European colleagues have any comment on this outrageous form of taxation?

pogonation

Yeah it sucks but that is just how it is. Most european airlines have huge YQ's on the short-haul routes. Some airlines are much worse than others.

You could just fly with budget airlines like Vueling for around 90EUR and save your miles. Otherwise you just have to pay those huge surcharges

Culture Guru

i can understand your frustration. My recommendation is - keep your miles and buy ticket with a low cost airline.

maltasr

I'll certainly take your advice. Never heard of Vueling. I gather they are Spain's answer to Southwest. Can I buy the tickets in the US prior to leaving or will I have to wait until we get to Barcelona? I still find it almost incredulous that these taxes on "free" tickets exist and that the public allowed this to happen. Ouch!!! And we complain about add-ons here!

HeathrowGuy

A fuel surcharge is NOT a tax, and should never be thought of as such. It is fare, plain and simple.

sindjic

I think you would go bonkers if you knew that by booking regular ticket from BCN to TXL you can sometimes get it for less than total tax on award ticket. But that's a whole different story. A good alternative carrier is Air Berlin on this route...

Kellanved

Actually, it's not a tax at all. It's delta's "foreign origin" surcharge and applies to all awards not originating in the US.

acjflyer

While you're right about the charge as being DL's "foreign origination surcharge", most European airlines, such as AF, KL and LH have similar charges labeled as taxes or fuel surcharge on their web sites.

Based on recent award ticket redemption, I believe that DL's charges in Europe are the exact same charges Flying Blue asks for. So it looks like AF/KL made DL put the foreign origination surcharge there in order to align the programs.

pbarnette

Veuling is decent, but I don't think they actually fly this route. I think you have a choice between Air Berlin to TXL or EasyJet to SXF. Between the two, I would choose Air Berlin, but EasyJet is fine, as well. Just make sure you factor in all the various and sundry fees to ensure you are comparing apples to apples, in terms of price.

You should be able to buy a ticket on pretty much any European LCC from the US, though you might find yourself paying a small credit card processing fee, depending upon the carrier.

tentseller

The taxes are imposed by the government of the departing airport or arriving airport.

My home is YYZ. My wife has a very close cousin living in YVR. Flying YYZ YVR direct there are government fees and taxes of about $250 per redeemed ticket.
Flying BUF SEA/BEL the taxes are $7.50

fgirard

Last year, I flew a LCY-TXL on LH, to which the fare--without taxes and fees was $2, but the taxes and fees were $161...

Carolinian

There is a term in consumer protection law, that one finds in the consumer protection statutes of virtually all states that applies aptly to DL's foreign origin surcharge. It is an Unfair and Deceptive Business practice. Airline charges are not and have never been taxes and it is an outright fraud to put them on the tax line on a ticket. I would love to see DL nailed for this fraud in a class action lawsuit.

It is also highly significant that DL is the only US-based airline that perpetrates this particular ''foreign origin surcharge'' fraud against its customers. It is counterproductive for anyone based outside the US or who sometimes takes award flights originating outside the US to use DL as their ff program. It is much better to use a different US-based airline which does not pickpocket you in this way. When I flew NW, I could see a huge difference, around US$200, in the ''taxes and fees'' line of a TATL award ticket ex-EU compared to what I would be charged if I used DL miles. This DL-only extra charge also adds ~$200 to the cost of a TATL award ticket on DL compared with any other US-based airline. In short, if you are EU-based, DL sucks big time!

rrgg

Are there percentage-based taxes calculated using the total fare plus YQ? Or is the YQ omitted first? If the latter, is the airline doing some tax avoidance here?

fgirard

I originally thought that YQ was a carrier implemented surcharge because, if a given passenger would attempt to purchase a "teaser" fare (we've all seen it, the $200 o/w to Europe), there would be a YQ (CO was doing this on the EWR-LIS in which the base was $450, but after the YQ assessment, the fare jumped to $700)

Personally, YQ is a fee that is not quite a fuel surcharge, but at the same time is not a tax.

MikeMpls

It's a Delta-sponsored ripoff. Very little of it is actual taxes. Every time I've looked at booking DL/NW award trips in Europe for the last year, I've ended up buying something else or changed plans.

They might, but not the size of Delta's ripoff.

LH (Lufthansa) will do BCN-TXL-BCN for as little as $217 in June, $216 in July. That's $16-17 less than what DL wants the OP to pay for "taxes" (not to mention his miles ).

"Most"? AF & KL are really the same company. LH often will sell you real tickets for less than these ripoff's.

Last October we flew IST-MUC-WAW-MUC-TXL on LH for $201 apiece. In exchange for that paltry $50 per segment, LH gave us some impressive expedited service by picking us up at the gate in a minivan & ushering us through security & passport control after their IST-MUC flight was delayed. Try getting that kind of service out of the Skyteam oligarchy!

Next December we're flying ATH-FRA oneways on LH for $79 apiece. Delta wanted ... well, you get the picture!

Long-term, I'd strongly suggest that those booking intra-European trips accumulate *A miles instead of worthless SkyPesos that you have to pay a ransom just to get rid of.