I was recently sent an email by KLM advising me my miles are due to expire. I don't have many, only around 20,000, but enough for a return flight to a handful of places in Europe, or a few more places if I purchase another 5,000 miles. I've been looking at flights, as I'd prefer to go somewhere, even if it's Paris, rather than let the miles disappear.

However, when I go to the awards booking page it comes up with around €100 of taxes EACH WAY!! For example, to Bergen, Norway, for a long weekend, 1-5 May I would need to pay €173 in taxes! If I just try to book the flight as a non-award booking on the KLM website, it's £137 inclusive of tax!

How is this possible? I thought taxes were set by governments, and therefore how can the taxes on an award booking exceed the ENTIRE cost of a standard flight? Or is KLM simply adding the cost of the flight as a surcharge, and in fact I wouldn't be getting anything for free?