Originally Posted by
GUWonder
On the other hand, I wish to report a shocking anomaly in the other extreme:
OZ : JFK-ICN-HKG First Class, but tax bill = £12
Did BD decide they aren't going to collect fuel surcharges on certain partner airlines or something? I knew OZ had lower YQ and like I explained a bit earlier in this thread, it can be a good alternative to NH or SQ in order to lower the surcharges due on your award redemption. Boy, when I said "lower", I mean more like half off, not £12!
This redemption almost seems like a time capsule of sort, I never imagined being able to see that again in 2008.
Also, I wish to reconfirm my report from 3 months ago here in this thread re:
Originally Posted by Guava
Case in point, I just successfully discussed an imposition of fuel surcharges / sales tax levied on a one-way ticket within North America in First/Business class involving more than one Star Alliance airlines.
The Cash Portion of the award is $150 USD as the per the award chart, nothing controversial here.
The so called taxes & fees come to $470 USD, for a total cash expense of $620 USD.
Keep in mind, we are talking about a wholly within North America, one-way First/Business class ticket. So, $620!? The number is so outraegous that you can buy almost 3 pairs transcontinental return tickets in economy class with that money, all-in, when UA has its L class fare available between US west and east coasts. In other words, a return reward ticket would have cost over $1,200 in taxes & fees.
Naturally, I did my homework, by my calculation, the taxes/fees should come to about $80 USD, not $470. You see
[...]
The lesson I think is it is very possible to extract good values with FFP if you can manage your resources efficiently. That sometimes also means you have to avoid airlines like SQ or NH unless it's absolutely necessary.
This is still working. I just included two transcontinental flights, including one with UA p.s. service + 2 shorter flights all in First/Business for a total of 4 flights. I paid strictly for government taxes & airport charges only, which amount to £49. Keep in mind this actually included $20 of YUL airport fee, $17 of Canadian security charge and about $20 of US immigration charges and of course, the redemption was considered a "one-way booking", so only £75 of cash + 11,250 miles + £49 of taxes even though it included First class.
Is it just me or are BD redemptions worthwhile again?
